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Theological    Seminary, 

PRINCETON,    N.J. 

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WORKS 


OF 


THOMAS     PAINE. 


VOL.  IL 


THE 


WORKS 


OF 


THOMAS     PAINE, 

SECRETARY  FOR  FOREIGN   AFFAIRS 

TO     THE 

CONGRESS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 
IN  THE  LATE  WAR. 


IN  TWO  VOLUMES. 


VOL.  IL 


PHILADELPHIA: 
PRINTED    BY  JAMES    CAREY, 

A^o.  83,  North  Second-street. 

1797. 


fy^kja!»jagja'>'3geaiki!Eiit.'j&j.'^jttiiiLi'jj^.a;'ji^^^ 


ADVERTISEMENT. 


HE  Editor  thinks  It  ncceflary  to  fay  a  fevv^  words  relative  to  this 
fecond  volume,  before  he  fends  it  forth  to  the  public. 

He  has  here  inferted  many  articles  not  to  be  found  in  any  other 
edition  of  Mr.  Paine's  works ;  fome  of  which  were  with  difTicultv 
procured. — He  believes  it  contains  the  whole  of  his  European 
publications,  except  his  letter  to  General  Wafhington,  which,  being  a 
copy-right,  could  not  legally  have  been  publiflied  by  him. 

Several  fubfcribers,  and  others,  expreffing  a  wiih  to  liave  The  Age 
OF  Reason  omitted  in  their  volumes,  the  work  has  been  printed  [o 
as  to  accommodate  them : — to  tin's  end  it  was  neceiTary  to  pan-e 
that  treatife  diftinftly  from  the  body  of  the  work,  fo  that  it  mav  be 
bound  up  at  the  end  of  the  volume,  or  wholly  omitted. 

It  was  intended  to  print  the  names  of  the  fubfcribers;  but  the  lifts 
have  been  fo  imperfedly  procured,  that  it  became  expedient  to 
abandon  the  idea. 

Pkiladelphiaj  Jpril  20,  1 797. 


'JBfea3LHBUi»g'jjauiaUaLtBiua«a'^  'MJiJUMiiiJUiiKiiWiiiiiii  aiwujiiui.  j-    ■i-»iimi..U'.ii!ii.. i..  i .-.  wi 


CONTENTS 


OF    THE 


SECOND   VOLUME. 


Prospects  on  the  rubicon,      .      .     ^ 

Rights  of  Man,  Part  I, 33 

Part  II,           .           -          -           -          -  131 

Letter  to  the  Author  of  the  Republican,          -          -         -  25J 

Abbe  Syeyas, 257 

Addrefs  to  the  Addreflers, 259 

Two  Letters  to  Lord  Onflow,           _           _           -           -  301 

DilT^rtafion  on  Firfl:  Principles  of  Government,         -         -  307 

Letter  to  Mr.  Secretary  Durdas,          -          -          -           -  3^> 

The  DecHne  and  Fall  of  the  Euglifh  Syftem  of  Finance,       -  337 

Letter  to  the  People  of  France,           -          -           -           -  3^ 

Reafons  for  prtferving  the  Life  of  Louis  Capet,  as  delivered  ta 

tke  National  Convention,          -----  363 

The  Age  of  Reafon,  Part  I, ^ 

Part  II, SS 


PROSPECTS 


ON  THE 


RUBICON: 


OK, 


AN    INVESTIGATION 


IJTTO  THS 


CAUSES  AND  CONSEQUENCES 


OF    THE- 


POLITICS    TO    BE    AGITATED    AT    THE 
MEETING    OF    PARLIAMENT. 

Vol.  IL-  ^ 


aimjLUiJ^siiaXiivijifn 


PREFACE. 


A] 


.N  exprelTion  in  the  Bntifli  parliament  refpefting  the  American 
war,  alhiding  to  Julius  Csefar  having  pafTed  the  Rubicon,  has  on  fc- 
veral  occafions  introduced  that  river  as  the  figurative  river  of  war* 

Fortunately  for  England  fhe  is  yet  on  the  peaceable  fide  of  the 
Rubicon  ;  but  as  the  flames  once  kindled  are  not  always  eafily  ex- 
tmgu  Hied,  the  hopes  of  peace  are  not  fo  clear  as  before  the  late  myf- 
terious  difpute  began. 

But  while  the  calm  lalls,  it  may  anfvver  a  very  good  purpofe  to 
take  a  view  of  the  profpcf^s,  confiftent  with  the  maxim,  that  he  that 
goeth  to  war  {hould  firft  fit  down  and  count  the  coft. 

The  nation  has  a  young  and  ambitious  minifter  at  ks  head,  fond 
of  himfelf ;  and  deficient  in  experience  :  and  inftanccs  have  often 
i^tC'wvn  that  judgment  is  a  different  thing  to  genius,  and  that  the  af- 
fairs of  a  nation  are  but  unfafcly  trufted  where  the  benefit  of  expe- 
rience is  wanting. 

Illuilraticns  iiave  been  drawn  from  the  circumflances  of  the  war 
before  lafl  to  decorate  the  charaftcr  of  the  prefent  minifter,  and, 
perhaps,  they  have  been  greatly  ever-drawn  ;  for  the  management 
mud  have  been  bad  to  have  done  lefs  than  what  was  then  done,  when 
we  impartially  confidev  the  means,  the  force,  and*"  the  money  em- 
ployed. 

It  was  then  Great  Britain  and  America  againft  France  fingfy, 
for  Spain  did  not  join  till  near  the  end  of  the  war.  The  great  num- 
ber of  troops  which  the  American  colonies  then  raifed,  and  paid 
themfelves,  were  fufficient  to  turn  the  fcale,  if  all  other  parts  had 
been  equal.  France  had  not  at  that  time  attended  to  naval  affairs  fo 
much  as  fhe  has  done  finee  ;  and  the  capture  of  French  failors  be- 
fore any  declaration  of  war  was  made,  which,  however  it  may  be 
juflified  upon  policy,  will  always  be  ranked  among  the  clandeftinc 
arts  of  war,  afi'ured  a  certain,  but  unfair  advantage  againft  her,  be- 
caufe  it  was  like  a  man  adminiftering  a  difabling  dofe  over  night  to 
the  perfon  wlicm  he  intends  to  challenge  in  the  mgrning. 


mmn^sBmmmmaamjmum  futJumMeKait}ii:-i»A\;xMiMiMMJee3»mMi^j\fim;mifAx^i^  n  ii  jwpwiw^it . 


PROxSPECTS  ON  THE  RUBICON. 


R 


IGHT  by  chance  and  wrong  by  fyfcem,  are  things  fb  frequently 
fecn  in  the  poh'tical  world,  that  it  becomes  a  proof  of  prudence  net-r 
ther  to  cenfure  nor  applaud  too  foon. 

**  The  Rubicon  is  paft,"  was  once  given  as  a  rcofon  for  profecut- 
ing  the  moft  expenfive  war  that  England  ever  knew.  Sore  with 
the  event,  and  groaning  beneath  a  gaUing  ^^oke  of  taxes,  (he  has  again 
been  led  minifterially  on  to  the  ftiore  of  the  fame  delufive  and  fatal 
river,  without  being  pennitted  to  know  the  objeft  or  reafon  why. 

Expenfive  preparations  have  been  gone  into;  feais,  alarms,  dangers, 
apprehenfions,  have  been  myfticaily  held  forth  as  if  the  cxiitence  of 
the  nation  was  at  (lake,  and  at  laft  the  mountain  has  brought  forth  a 
Dutch  moufe. 

Whofoever  will  candidly  review  the  prefent  national  chara(5lcrs  of 
England  and  France,  cannot  but  be  ftruck  with  furprize  at  the  change 
that  is  taking  place.  The  people  of  France  are  beginning  to  think 
for  themfelves,  and  the  people  of  England  refigning  up  the  privilege 
of  thinking. 

The  affairs  of  Holland  have  been  the  bubble  of  the  day;  and  a  tax 
is  to  be  laid  on  fhoes  and  boots  (fo  fay  the  newfpjipers)  for  the  fer- 
vice  of  the  iladtholder  of  Holland.  This  will  undoubtedly  do  ho- 
fiour  to  the  nation,  by  verifying  the  old  Engliih  proverb,  "  over  fhoei 
«  over  boots.** 

But  though  Democrites  could  fcarcely  have  forborne  laughing  at 
the  folly,  yet  as  ferious  argument  and  found  rcafoning  are  preferable 
to  ridicule,  it  will  be  bed:  to  quit  the  vein  of  unprofitable  humour,  and 
give  the  caufe  a  fair  inveftigation.  But  before  we  da  this,  it  may  not 
be  improper  to  take  a  general  review  of  fundry  political  matters  that 
will  naturally  lead  to  a  better  nnderflanding  of  the  fubjeA. 


6  PA  INE's    WORKS.  ^-^ 

What  has  been  the  event  of  all  the  wars  of  England,  but  an  amaz^ 
ing  accumulation  of  debt,    and  an   unparalleled  burden   of  taxes. 
Sometimes  the  pretence  has  been  to  fupport  one  outlandifti   caufe, 
and  fometimes  another.     At  one   time  Auftria,   and   another  time 
PrufTia,  another  to  oppofe  RufTia,  and  fo  on  ;  but  ihe  confequenc? 
has   always  been  taxks.     A  few  men   have  enriched  themfelves  by- 
job&and  contrads,  and  the  groaning  multitude  borne  the  burden.  What 
has  England  gained  by  war  fince  the  year  1738,  only  fifty  years  ago>.. 
to  recompence  her  for  two  hundred  millions  fterling,   incurred 
39  a  debt  within  that  time,  and  under  the  annual  interell  of  which, 
befides  what  was  incurred  before,  fhe  is  now  groaning?  Nothing  at  all. 

The  glare  of  fancied  glory  has  often  been  held  up,  and  the  fha-. 
dowy  recompence  impofed  itfelf  upon  the  fenfes.  Wars  that  might; 
have  been  prevented  have  been  madly  gone  into,  and  the  end  has  been.. 
debt  and  difcontent.  A  fort  of  fomething  which  m.an  cannot  ac- 
count for  is  mi:ced  in  his  compofition,  and  renders  him  the  fubjed  of 
deception  by  the  very  means  he  takes  not  to  be  deceived. 

That  jealoufy  which  the  individuals  of  every  nation  feels  at  the- 
fuppofed  defigns  of  foreign  powers,  fits  them  to  be  the  prey  of  mini-, 
fters,  and  of  thofe  am.ong  themfelves  whofe  trade  is  war,  or  whofe 
livelihood  is  jobs  and  contrads.  "  Confufion  to  the  politics  of  Eur 
«*  rope,  and  may  every  nation  be  at  war  in  fix  months,"  was  a  toaij 
given  in  my  hearing  not  hug  fince. — The  man  was  in  court  to  the. 
miniftry  for  a  job. — Ye  gentle  graces,  if  any  fuch  there  be,  who  pre*. 
fide  over  human  adions   how  muft  ye  weep  at  the  vicioufneis  of  man  h 

When  we  coniider,  for  the  feelings  of  nature  cannot  be  difmifled,. 
the  calamities  of  war  and  the  miferies  it  inflids  upon  the  human  fpe-.. 
cies,  the  thoufands  and  tens  of  thoufands  of  every  age  and  fex  who. 
are.  rendered  wretched  by  the  event,  furely  there  is  fomething  in  the 
heart  of  man  that  calls  upon  him.  to  think !  Surely  there  is  fomc  ten- 
der chord  tuned  by  the  hand  of  its  Creator,  that  ftruggles  to  emit  ink 
the  heanng  of  the  foul  a  note  of  forrowing  fympathy.  Let  it  thei^ 
be  heard,  and  let  men  learn  to  feel,  that  the  true  greatnefs  of  a  uatioa 
is  founded  on  principles  of  humanity  ;  and  that  to  avoid  a  war  w.her> 
her  own  exiftence  is  not  endangered,  and  \yherein  the  happinefs  of 
man  muft  be  wantonly  facrificcd,  is  a  higher  principle  of  true  honour 
than  madly  to  engage  in  it. 

But  independent  of  all  civil  and  moral  confiderations,  there  is  no  p6f- 
fible  event  that  a  war  could  produce  benefits  to  England  or  France,  on 
the  prefentoccafion,  that  could  in  the  mofl;  dittant  proportion  recom- 
pence to  either  the  expence  flic  mull  be  at.  War  involveB  in  its  progref^ 


PROSPECTS  ON  THE  RUBICOR  7' 

fuch  a  train  of  unforefeen  and  unfiippofed  circumftances,  filch  a  combi- 
nation of  foreign  matters,  that  no  human  wifdom  can  calculate  the  ^nd. 
It  has  but  one  thing  certain,  and  that  is  increafe  of  taxes.  The  poh'cy 
ofEuropean  courts  is  now  fo  caft,  and  their  intereft  fo  interwoven  v/ith 
each  other,  that  however  eafy  it  may  be  to  begin  a  war,  the  weight 
arid  influence  of  interfering  nations  compel  even  the  conqueror  to  un- 
profitable conditions  of  peace. 

Commerce  and  maritime  llrength  are  now  becoming  the  fafhion,  or 
rather  the  rage  of  Europe,  and  this  naturally  excites  in  them,  a  com- 
bined wifh  to  prevent  either  England  or  France  encreafing  its  compa- 
rative Itrcngth  by  deftroying,  or  even  relatively  weakening  the  others' 
and  therefore,  whatever  views  each  may  have  at  the  commencement 
of  a  war,  new  enemies  will  arife  as  either  gains  the  advantage,  and 
-continual  obftacles  enfue  tc  embarrUfs  fuccefs. 

The  greatnefs  of  Lewis  the  fourteenth  made  Europe  his  enemy, 
aiid  the  fam.e  caufe  will  produce  the  fame  confequence  to  any  other 
European  power.  That  nation,  therefore,  only  is  truly  wife,  who 
contenting  herfelf  with  the  means  of  defence,  created  to  herfelf  no 
xinneceffar)'  enemies  by  feeking  to  be  greater  than  the  fyftem  of  Eu- 
rope admits.  The  monarch  or  the  minifter  who  exceeds  this  line^ 
knows  but  little  of  his  bufinefs.  It  is  what  the  poet,  on  another  oc- 
cafion,  calls, 

**  The  point  where  fenfe  and  nonfcnfe  join." 

Perhaps  there  is  not  a  greater  inflance  of  the  folly  of  calculating 
upon  events,  than  are  to  be  found  in  treaties  of  alliance.  As  foon  as 
they  have  anfwered  the  immediate  purpofe  of  either  of  the  parties, 
they  are  but  little  regarded.  Pretences,  afterwards,  are  never  want- 
ing to  explain  them  away,  nor  reafons  to  render  them  abortive. 
And  if  half  the  money  which  nations  lavifh  on  fpeculative  alliances 
were  referved  for  their  own  immediate  purpofe,  whenever  the  occa*- 
iion  fhall  arrive,  it  v/tiuld  be  more  produdlively  and  aJvantageoufiy 
employed. 

Monarchs  and  minifters,  from  ambition  or  refentment,  often  con- 
template to  themfelves  fchemes  of  future  greatnefs,  and  fct  out  with 
what  appears  to  them  the  fairelt  profpeft  ;  In  the  mean  while,  the 
great  wheel  of  time  and  fate  revolves  unobfeiTed,  and  fomethiag,  ne- 
ver dreamed  of,  turns  up  and  blafts  the  whole.  A  few  fancied  or 
^inprofitable  laurels  fupply  the  abfence  of  fuccefs,  and  the  cxhaullod 
f^ation  is  huzza'd  into  new  taxes. 

The   poUtics  asid  interefts  of  European  courts   arr   fo  frequently 


n  PAlNE's    wo  RKS. 

varyino  r/(th  regard  to  each  other,  that  there  is  no  fixing  even  the 
probabih'ty  of  their  future  conduct.  But  the  great  principle  of 
alliancing  feems  to  be  but  little  underftood,  or  little  cultivated  in 
courts,  perhaps  the  leafl  of  all,  in  that  of  England. — No  alliance 
«»an  be  operative,  that  does  not  embrace  within  itfelf,  not  only 
the  attachment  of  ihe  fovereigns,  but  the  real  intereft  of  the  na- 
tions. 

1  he  alliance  between  France  and  S^ain,  however  it  may  be  fpokeri 
•of  as  a  mere  family  compact,  derives  its  greateft  ftrength  from  na- 
tional intereft.  The  mines  of  Peru  and  Mexico,  are  the  foul  of  this 
alliance.  Were  thofe  mines  extindlj  the  family  compa£l  would  moll 
probably  diflblve. 

Thei^j  cxifts  not  a  doubt  in  tlie  mind  of  Spain,  what  part  England 
v^ould  a£l,   refpecling  thofe  mines,   could  fne  demolifh  the  maritime 
power  of  France ;  and  therefore  the  intereil  of  Spain  feels  itfelf  con- 
tinually united  with  France.     Spain  have  high  ideas  of  honour,  but 
they  have  not  the  fame  ideas  of  Engliili  honour.    They  confider  Eng- 
land as  wholly  governed  by  principles  of  intereft,  and  that  whatever 
flie  thinks  it  her  intereft  to  do,  and  fuppofes  (he  has  the  power  of  do- 
ing, ihe  makes  very  little  ceremony  of  attempting.      But  this  is  not 
nil — There  is  not  a  nation  in  Europe  but  what  is  n»oi?e  fatisfied  that 
thofe  mines  fnould  be  in  the  pofTefiion  of  Spain,  than  in  that  of  any 
other  European  nation ;  becaufe  the  wealth  of  thofe  mines,  fufficient 
to   ruin  Europe  in  the  hands  of  fome  of  its  pov/ers,  is   innocently 
rmployed  with  refpeft  to  Europe,   and  better  and  more  peaceably 
diftrihnted  among  them  all,  through  the  medium  of  Spain,  than  it 
would  be  throu,,rh  tliat  of  any  other  nation.     This  is  one  of  the  fecret 
caufesthat  combine  fo  large  a  part  of  Europe  in  the  intereft  of  France, 
becaufe  they  cannot  but  confider  her  as  ftanding   as   a  barrier  to  fe- 
cure  to  them  the  free  and  equal  diftribution  of  this  wealth  thrcucrhout 
all  the  dominions  of  Europe. 

Th'r,  allianc"  of  intereft  is  likcw'fe  one  of  the  unfeen  cements  that 
prevents  Spain  and  Portugal,  two  nations  not  very  friendly  to  each 
other,  proceeding  to  hcftillties.  They  are  both  in  the  fame  fituation, 
and  whatever  their  difliker.  may  be,  they  cannot  fail  to  confider,  that 
by  giving  way  to  refentm.ent  that  would  weaken  and  exhauft  them- 
fclves,  each  would  be  expofed  a  prey  to  fome  ftronger  power. 

In  ftiort,  this  alliance  of  national  intereft  is  the  only  one  that  ca« 
be  trufted,  and  the  only  one  that  can  be  operative.  All  other  alli- 
ances formed  on  tlie  mere  will  and  caprice  of  fovereigns,  ot  family 
connexions,  uncombined  with  national  intereft,  are  but  th^  quagmire 


^i  politics,  and  never  fail  to  become  a  lois  to  that  nalion  who  wafces 
its  prefent  fubfb.r:j:e  on  the  expedancy  of  dillant  returns. 

With  regard  to  Holland,  a  man  muft  know  very  little  of  the  n'.at- 
ter,  not  to  know  that  there  exifts  a  llronger  principle  of  rivalfhip  S.- 
tween  Holland  and  England  in  point  of  commerce,  than  prevails  be- 
tween England  and  France  in  point  of  power:  and,  therefore,  when- 
ever a  ftiidthoklGr  of  Holland  fliall  fee  it  his  interell  to  unite  with 
the  principle  of  his  countr)',  and  aS.  In  concert  with  ihc  fentiments 
pf  the  very  people  wiio  pay  him  for  hl^  fervices,  the  means  now  taken 
by  England  to  render  him  formidable,  wdl  operate  contrary  to  the 
l^olitical  expeftations  of  the  prefent  dny. 

Circumilances  will  produce  their  own  natural  elTecln,  and  no  other, 
let  tlie  hopes  or  expedxatlons  of  rnan  be  what  they  may.  It  is  not 
our  doing  a  thing  with  a  delign  that  it  fliali  aofwer  fuch  or  luch  an 
end,  that  will  caufe  it  to  produce  that  end  ;  the  means  taken  mull 
have  a  natuVal  ability  and  tendency  within  thcmfelves  to  produce  no 
Vthef,  for  it  is  this,  and  not  our  wlfhes  or  policy,  that  governs  the  event. 

The  Engiiili  navigation  acl  was  levelled  againd  the  intereft  of  the 
Dutch  as  a  whole  nation,  and  therefore  it  is  not  to  be  fuppofed  that 
the  catching  at  the  accidental  circumflancer.  of  one  man,  :is  In  the 
cafe  of  the  prefent  iladtholder,  can  combine  the  intereft  of  that  coun- 
try with  this.  A  few  years,  perhaps  a  lefs  tiroe,  mny  remove  him  to 
the  place  where  ail  things  are  forgotten,  and  his  fuccelTor,  contem- 
plating his  father's  troubles,  will  be  naturally  led  to  reprobate  the 
means  that  produced  tliem,  and  to  repofe  himfelf  on  the  interells  of 
kis  country,  in  preference  to  the  accidental  and  tumultuoas  afliiiancc 
©f  exterior  power. 

England  herfelf  exhibits  at  thiR  day,  a  fpecies  of  this  kind  of  policy. 
The  prefent  reign,  by  embracing  the  Scotch.,  has  tranquihzed  and 
conciliated  the  fplrit  that  difturbed  the  two  former  reigns.  Accufa- 
tions  were  not  wanting  at  that  time  to  reprobr'.te  the  policy  ns  tine* 
tared  with  ingratitude  towards  thofe  who  were  tlie  immediate  me^ns 
of  the  Hanover  fuccerfion.  The  brilliant  pen  of  Junius  v.  ^;s  drawn 
forth,  but  in  vain.  It  enraptured  without  convincing  ;  and  though 
in  the  plenitude  of  its  rage  it  might  be  faid  to  give  elegance  to  bit- 
ternefs,  yet  the  policy  furvived  the  blaft. 

What  then  will  be  the  natural  confcquencc  of  this  expence,  on  ac- 
count of  the  ftadth.  Ider,  or  of  a  war  entered  into  from  that  caufe  ■ 
Search  the  various  wintlii^gs  and  caverns  of  the  human  heart,  and 
draw  from  thence  the  moll  probable  conclufion,  for  tiiis  is  more  to  be 
depended  upon  than  the  projeds  or  declarations  of  miniilcrs. 

Vol.  n.  C 


io  PAINE's    WOllKJ^. 

It  may  do  veiy  xvcll  for  a  paragraph  In  a  news-paper,  cf  tfie  Wild 
efFufiORS  of  romantic  politicians,  or  the  mercenary  views  of  thofe 
who  wifh  for  war  en  any  occafion,  or  on  no  occiifion  at  ail,  but  for 
the  fake  of  jobs  and  contrails,  to  talk  of  French  fineffe  or  French' 
Intrigue  ;  but  the  Dutch  are  wcl  a  people  to  be  fmpreficd  bV  the  fi- 
neiTe  or  intrigue  of  France  or  England,  or  any  other  niitian.  If 
there  has  been  any  fineffe  in  the  cafe,  it  has  been  between  the  ekdo- 
rate  of  Hanover,  the  king  of  Prufiia,  and  the  fladtholder,  in  which 
k  is  moll  probable  the  people  of  England  v^/ill  be  fincfTed  out  of  a  funi; 
of  money. 

The  Dutch,  as  i^  already  obferved,  are  not  a  people  open  to  the 
fmpreflion  cf  linefle.  It  is  loft  upx)n  them.  They  are  iirpreffed  by 
their  commercial  intereft.  It  is  the  political  foul  of  their  country, 
the  fpring  of  their  adionS',  and  when  this  principle  coincides  with 
their  ideas  of  freeddnt,  it  has  all  the  impulfe  a  Dutchsnaa  is  capable  of 
feeling, 

Tlie  oppofition  fn  Kolbnd  were  the  enemies  ef  the  fiadtholder/ 
opon  a  conviftion  that  he  was  not  the  friend  of  their  national  interefls. 
They  wanted  no  impulfe  but  this.  Whether  this  dcfcd  in  h'lni 
proceeded  from  foreign  attachment,  from  bribeiy  or  corruption,  or 
from  the  vs'eII-k;iov?rj  defedl  of  his  underllanding,  is  not  the  point  of 
enquiry.  It  was  ili-c  efTccl:  rather  than  the  cxuk  that  hrstated  thd 
Hollanders. 

If  the  ftadtholder  made  ufe  cf  the  power  he  h^ld  in  the  govern- 
ment to  expofe  and  endanger  the  interefr  and  ]>roperty  of  the  very 
p-eople  who  fupported  hiirii  whar  other  incentive  docs  any  man  io 
any  country  require  ?  If  the  Hollanders  conceived  the  conduft  of  tiiff- 
ftadtholder  injurious  to  their  national  intereft,  they  had  the  fame  right 
to  expel  him  which  England  had  to  expel  the  Stuarts  ;*  and  the  inter- 
ference cf  England  to  re-eftabhfii  him,  ferves  only  to  confirm  in  tht- 
Hollanders  the  fame  hatred  agai'nil  England  which  the  attempt  of 
Lewis  the  XlVth,  to  re-eftablifh  the  Stuarts  caufed  in  En^dand 
ngaiuft  France  ;  therefore,  if  the  prefent  policy  is  intended  to  at- 
tach Holland  to  Flngland,  it  goes  on  a  principk  exceedingly  er^ 
roneotis. 

Let  us  now  confider  the  fituation  cf  the  ftadtholder,  as  makinof 
another  part  of  the  queftion. 

He  muft  place  the  caufe  of  his  troiibies  to  fome  fecret  influence 
which  governed  his  condinft  during  the  late  war,  or  in  other  words, 
that  he  was  fufpedled  of  being  the  tool  of  the  then  Britiili  admini- 
ftration.     The^-cfore,  as  iVery  part  of  an  argument  ought  to  have  its 


PROSPECTS  ON  THE  RUBICON.  ti 

weight,  inftead  of  charging  the  French  of  intriguing  with  the  Hol- 
landers, the  charge  jnore  confiftently  lies  ngainft  the  Britifn  niinlilry, 
&)r  intriguing  with  the  ftadtholdcr,  and  endangering  the  nation  in 
a  war  without  a  fufficient  objedl.  That  which  the  miniftry  are  now 
doing  coniirms  the  fufpicion,  and  explains  to  the  HoUiinders  th:it 
collufion  of  the  ftadtholder  againft  their  national  intei'eds,  which 
he  muft  wifh  to  have  concealed,  and  the  explanation  dt>es  liim  more 
hurt  than  the  unnecefiary  parade  <of  fervlce  has  doJie  him  good. 
•  Nothing  but  neceluty  fiiould  have  operated  with  England  to  ap- 
pear openly  in  a  cafe  that  muft  put  the  ftadtholder  on  flill  worfe 
terms  with  his  countiymen.  Kad  France  made  any  difpofition  for 
war,  had  flie  armed,  had  flie  made  any  one  hoftile  prepaiation,  there 
nftiprht  then  have  been  fome  pretence  for  En-'-land  taking:  a  ftc]),  that 
cannot  fail  to  ^xpofe  to  the  v^^orld  that  the  fufpicions  of  the  Hollan- 
ders againft  the  ftadtholden-were  well  founded,  and  that  their  taufc 
was  juft,  however  unfuccefsfnl  has  been  the  event. 

As  to  the  confequeijce  of  Holland  in  the  fcale  of  Furopte  (the 
great  ftake,  fays  fome  of  the  ncwfpapers,  for  v/hich  England  is  con- 
teriiding)  that  is  naturally  pointed  out  by  her  condition  :  As  picr- 
chants  for  other  nations  her  intereft  di<^ates  to  her  to  be  a  neutral 
power,  and  this  (he  always  will  be  unlefs  flie  is  made  war  upon,  as 
was  the  cafe  in  the  laft  war;  and  any  expectation  beyond  what  is  the 
h'ne  of  her  intereft,  that  is,  beyond  neutrality,  either  in  England  or 
France,  will  prove  abortive.  It  therefore  cannot  be  policy  to  go  to 
v/ar  to  efTcdl  that  at  a  great  expence,  which  will  naturally  happen  of 
itfelf,  and  beyond  which  there  is  nothing  to  cxpe£l. 

Let  Holland  be  allied  with  England  or  with  France,  or  with  nei- 
ther, or  with  both;  her  national  conduft,  confcqucntly  anTing  cut  of 
her  circumftances,  will  be  nearly  the  fame,  that  is,  (he  will  be  neutral. 
Alhances  have  fuch  a  natural  tendency  to  fmk  into  harmlefs  unope- 
rative  things,^at  to  make  them  a  caufe  for  going  to  war,  either  to 
prevent  thcii*  Ijeing  formed,  or  to  break  any  already  formed,  is  the 
fiilieft  fpeculation  that  war  can  be  made  upon,  or  wealth  wafted  to 
accomplifli.  It  would  fcarcely  be  worth  the  p.ttempt,  if  war  could 
be  carried  on  without  expence,  becaufc  almoft  the  whole  that  can 
be  hoped  at  the  rifle  and  expence  of  a  war,  is  cfTecSled  by  their  natunJ 
tendency  to  inaftivity. 

However  pompous  the  declarations  of  an  alliance  may  be,  the  ob- 
je<^  of  many  of  them  is  no  other  than  good-will,  and  reciprocally 
fecuring,  as  far  as  fnrh  fecurlty  can  ^o,  tliat  neitlier  fuall  join  the 
cw«niis  af  the  other  in  any  war  thtit  may  happen.     But  the  nation;*! 


i2  '     P  A  I  N  E  '  s    W  O  R  K  S-. 

circiimftaiices  of  Holland,  operate  to  enfiirc  this  tranquility-  on  »ftr 
part  as  efF(^6lualIy  to  the  pcm-er  flie  is  not  allied  with,  as  the  engage- 
ment itfelf  does  to  the  power  with  whom  fne  is  allitrd;  therefore  the 
fecurity  from  citcun;Ilauces  is  as  good  as  tlie  feeurity  from  engage-, 
ment. 

As  to  a  cordial  union  of  iiitereft  between  Holland  and  England, 
it  is  as  unnatural  to  happen  as  between  two  individual  rivak  in  the  fame 
trade :-  And  if  there  is  any  ftep  that  England  could  take  to  put  it  at 
a  {till  greater  diltance,  it  is  the  part  fnc  id  now  acting-  She  has  in- 
creafed  the  animolity  of  Holland  on  the  fpeculative  politics  of  intereft- 
ing  the  lladtholuer,  whofc  future  repoie  depends  upon  uniting  with 
the  oppofition  in  Holland,  as  the;  prefent  reign  did  with  the  Scotch* 
Biow  foolifli  then  has  been  the  policy,  hov/  nc^dlefs  the  expence  of 
endangering  a  war  on  account  of  the  affairs  oi  Holland  ? 
■  A  coi'diaiity  between  England  and  Fr^fice  is  lefa.  improbable  thaa 
between  England  and  Holland.  It  is  not  how  au  EnglifViman  feels, 
but  *how  a  Dutchman  feels,  that  decides  this  queftion.  I>etwe^;» 
En«-land  and  France  there  is  no  real  rivalihip  of  iaterelt;  it  is  mc/re 
the  eff  eft  of  temper,  difpofition,  and  the  jealoufy  of  confiding  in 
each  other,  than  ai;y  fubiiantial  caufe,  that  keeps  up  the  aiu'mofity. 
But  on  the  part  of  Holland  towards  England,  there  is  over  and  abovq- 
the  fpirit  of  animofity,  the  more  powerful  motives  of  intereiled  com- 
mercial rivalfiiip,  and  the  galling  remembvar.ee  of  pail  injuricu.  The 
ynakine^  war  upon  them  under  lord  North's  adminiilration,  when  tliey 
were  taking  no  part  in  the  huililiti,es,  hut  merely  ?<Sing  the  bufiuefa 
of  merchants,  is  a  civcurailance  that  will  not  eaiily  be  forgotten  by 
thera.  On  thefe  reafons,  therefore,  which  aie  naturally  deduced 
from  the  operative  feelings  of  mankind,  any  expectation  of  attachingc 
Holland  to  England  as  a  friendly  power,  is  vague  and  futile.  Nature 
has  her  own  way  of  working  iu  the  heart,  and  all  plans  of  politics  not 
founded  thereon  will  diiappuint  themfelves. 

Any  one  who  will  review  the  hiilpiy  of  Englifh  politics  for  feveral 
years  pail,  mud  perceive  that  t,hey  have  been  diret^led  witliout  fyftenu 
To  efldblifli  this,  it  is  only  necefT^ry  to  epcaimine  one  circumilance 
frefh  in  the  mind  of  every  man. 

The  American  war  was  profecuted  at  a  veiy  great  expence,  on  the 
publicly  declared  opinion,  that  the  retaining  America  was  neceifaiy 
to  the  exigence  of  England;  but  America  being  nov/  feparated  from. 
England,  the  prefent  politics  arc,  that  flie  is  better  without  her  thaa 
with  her.  !poth  th^fe  cannot  be  true,  and  their  coutradi6lion  to  each 
other  fiiews  a  want  of  f)  Hem,     If  the  latter  is  true,  it  amount*  tg  ar; 


PROSPECTS  ON  THE  RUBICON.  13 

'iinpcachment  of  the  political  judgment  of  government,  becaufe  the 
difcovery  ought  to  have  been  made  before  the  exper.ce  was  gone  into. 
This  fingle  circumilance,  yet  frefli  in  every  man's  mind,  is  fufiicienC 
to  create  a  I'ufpicion,  whether  the  prefent  meafures  are  more  wifely- 
founded  than  the  former  ones ;  and  whether  experience  may  not  prove, 
that  going  to  war  for  the  fake  of  the  (ladthotdcr,  or  for  the  hope  of 
retaining  a  partial  intereil  in  Holland,  who,  under  any  conne<rLion 
can,  from  circumftances,  be  no  more  than  a  neutral  power,  is  not  as 
weak  policy  as  going  to  war  to  retain  America. 

If  England  is  powerful  enoiio;h  tb  maintain  her  own  ground  and 
confequcnce  in  the  world  as  an  independent  nation,  flie  needs  no  fo- 
reign connexion.  If  (he  is  not,  the  fa£l  contradicts  the  popular 
opinion  that  ftie  is.  Therefore,  either  her  politics  are  wrong,  or  her 
true  condition  is  not  what  Hie  fuppofes  it  to  be.  Either  Ihe  muft  give 
up  her  opinion  to  juftify  her  politics,  or  renounce  her  politics  to  vin- 
<^icate  her  opinion. 

If  fome  kind  of  conne(flion  with  Irfolland  is  fuppofed  to  be  an  ob- 
ject worthy  fome  expence  to  obtain,  it  may  be  ai'ked  why  was  that 
connexion  broken  by  making  war  upon  her  in  the  laft  war?  If  it 
was  not  then  worth  preferving  without  expence,  is  it  now  worth  re- 
obtaining  at  a  vaft  expence  ?  If  the  Hollanders  do  not  like  the  Engliih, 
can  they  be  made  to  hke  them  againll  their  wills  ?  If  it  (liall  be  faid 
that  under  the  former  connection  tjiey  were  unfriendly,  will  they  be 
more  friendly  under  any  other  ?  They  were  then  In  as  free  a  fituation 
to  choofe  as  any  future  circumftances  can  make  them,  and,  therefore, 
the  national  governing  fentiment  of  the,  country  can  be  eafily  difco- 
vered  ;  for  it  fignifies  not  what  or  who  a  ftadtholder  may  be,  that 
which  governs  Holland  is,  and  alv/ays  muft  be,  a  commercial  prin^ 
ciple,  and  it  will  follow  this  line  in  fpite  of  politics.  Intereft  is  as 
predominant  and  as  filent  in  its  operations  as  love  j  it  refilis  all  the 
attempts  of  force,  and  countermines  all  the  ftratagem  of  control. 

The  mofc  able  English  ftatefmen  and  politicians  have  always  held 
it  as  a  principle,  that  foreign  connexions  fei-ved  only  to  embarrafs  and 
exhauft  England.  That,  furroimdcd  by  tlic-ocean  fhe  could  not  be 
invaded  as  countries  are  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  and  that  her 
infular  Ctuation  dictated  to  her  a  difi'erent  fyilem  of  politics  to  what 
thofe  countries  required,  and  tliat  to  be  enkagued  with  tlicm  was  fa- 
crifieing  the  advantages  of  fituation  to  a  capricious  fyftcm  of  politics. 
That  though  {he  might  fcrve  them,  they  could  not  much  fcrve  htr, 
and  that  as  tlie  fervice  muft  at  all  time5  be  paid  for,  it  could  always 
l>e  procured  when  it  wai  wanted^  and  that  it  would  be  better  to  take 


H  P  A  I  K  E*s     W  0  R  K  S. 

it  up  in  this  line  than  to  cnibarrafs'Iicrfclf  with  fpecuiative  aliiarrcfs 
that  ferved  rather  to  draw  l-.er  iiUo  a  continental  wra'on  their  accciint, 
than  extricate  her  from  a  war  undertaken  on  licr  own  account. 

From  this  difcufilon  of  the  affairs  of  Kollnnd,  and  of  the  inade^ 
quacy  of  Holland  as  an  objc^  for  war,  we  will  proceed  to  faew  that 
neither  England  nor  France  are  in  a  condition  to  go  to  war  ;  and 
that  there  is  no  prefent  o'oJf  ft  to  tlie  one  or  the  other  to  recompcnce 
the  expence  that  each  mufl;  be  at,  cr  atone  to  tlie  fubjefts  of  either 
for  the  additional  burdens  that  mufi  be  brought  upon  them.  I  de.- 
iend  the  caufe  of  the  poor,  of  the  manufacturers,  of  the  tradefmen,  of 
the  farmer,  and  of  all  thofe  on  whom  the  real  burden  of  taxes  fall — r 
but  above  all,   I  defend  the  caufe  of  humanity. 

It  will  always  happen,  that  any  rumour  of  war  v.'ill  be  popular 
among  a  great  number  of  people  in  London.  There  are  thoufands 
who  live  by  it :  it  is  their  Imryefi ;  and  the  clamour  which  thofe  peo^ 
pie  keep  up  in  news-papers  and  convcrfalions  pafTes  unfufpiciouily  for 
the  voice  of  the  people,  and  it  is  not  till  after  the  mifchief  is  done, 
that  the  deception  is  difcovered. 

Such  people  are  continually  holding  up  in  r^ry  magnified  terms 
the  wealth  of  the  nation,  and  the  dcprcifed  condition  of  France,  as 
reafons  for  commencing  a  war,  without  knowing  any  thing  of  either 
of  thefe.fubjefts. 

But  admitting  them  to  be  as  truej  ?!s  they  are  falfe,  as  will  be  here- 
after fliewn,  it  certainly  indicates  a  vilenefs  in  the  national  dilpoftion 
©f  any  country,  that  will  make  the  accidental  internal  difliculties  to 
-whicli  all  nations  arc  fubjecl,  and  fometimcs  encumbered  with,  a  rea- 
fon  for  making  war  upon  them.     The  amazing  encreafe  and  miagni- 
tude  of  the  paper  currency  now  floating  in  all  parts  of  England,  ex- 
pofes  her  to  a  Ihock  as  much  more  tremendous  than  the  fiiock  occa- 
fioned  by  the  bankruptcy  of  the  South  Sea  funds,  as  the  quantity  of 
credi  land  paper  currency  is  now  greater  than  they  were  at  that  time. 
Whenever  fuch  a  circumilance  (hall  happen,  and  the  wifcfl  men  in 
the  nation  are,  and  cannot  avoid  being,  impreffed  with  the  danger,  it 
would  be  looked  upon  a  bafenefs  in  France  to  make  the  dillrefs  and 
misfortune  of  England  a  caufe  and  opportunity  for  making  war  upon 
her,  yet  this  hideous  infid'i^lity  is  publicly  avowed  in  England.      The 
bankruptcy  of  1719?  was  pri'cipitated  by  the  great  credit  which  the 
funds  then  had,  and  the  confidence  which  people  placed  in  them.     I« 
not  credit  making  infmitcly  greater  flrides  now  than  it  made  then?  Is 
rot  (confidence  equally  as  blind  now  as  at  tliat  day?  The  people  then 
{uppofed  themfelves  as  wife  as  they  do  now,  yet  they  were  miferablr 


Prospect's  on  tpIe  pjjbicon.  i; 

deceived,  and  the  deception  that  has  once  happened  will  happen  again 
from  the  fame  caufes. 

Credit  is  not  money,  and  therefore  it  is  not  pay,  neither  can  it  be 
pat  in  the  place  of  money  in  tlie  end.  It  is  «nly  the  means  of  getting 
into  debt,  not  tlie  means  of  getting  out,  otherwife  the  national  debt 
could  not  aociimiilate;  and  the  delafion  w-n'ch  nations  are  under  rei- 
petSlmg  the  extenfian  of  credit  is  exa6^1y  like  that  which  every  man 
feels  refpevSling  life,  the  end  is  always  nearer  than  was  expeffed;  and 
v/e  bscOme  bar.krupts  in  time  by  the  fame  deluflon  that  nations  be- 
come bankrupts  in  property. 

The  little  wliich  nations  know,  or  are  fometimes  willing  to  knov*^, 
cf  each  other,  ferves  to  precipitate  them  into  wars  which  neither  would 
have  undertaken,  had  fhe  fully  known  the  extent  of  the  power  and  cir- 
Cumftances  of  the  other;  it  may  t}iertf:)re  be  of  fome  ufc  to  place  the 
circumftances  of  Engl-Tud  and  France  in  a  comparative  point  of  view. 

In  order  to  do  this  the  accidental  circumftances  of  a  nation  mufl  be 
thrown  out  of  the  acconut.  By  accidental  circumftances  is  meant, 
thofe  temporary  disjointings  and  derangements  of  its  internal  lyllem 
which  every  nation  in  the  world  is  fubjeil  to,  and  which,  like  acci- 
dental fits  of  ficknefs  in  the  human  body,  prevents  in  the  interim  the 
full  exertion  and  exercife  of  its  natural  powers. 

The  fubftantial  hafis  of  the  power  of  a  nation  arifes  ont  of  its  po- 
pulation, its  wealth  and  its  revenues.  To  thefe  may  be  addx'd  the 
difpofition  of  the  people.  Each  of  thefe  will  be  fpoken  lo  as  we  pro- 
ceed. 

Inftancesare  not  wantino;  to  fhew  that  a  nation  confidmg  too  mucit 
on  its  natural  Itrength,  is  Icfs  inclined  to  be  aAive  in  its  operations 
tlian  one  of  lefs  natural  powers  who  is  objiged  to  fupply  tliat  defici- 
ency by  encreafing  its  exertions.  This  has  often  been  the  cale  be- 
tween England  and  France.  IMie  activity  of  England  arihng  from 
ito  fears,  has  fometimes  exceeded  the  exertions  of  France  rep«fing  oij 
its  contidence. 

But  as  this  depends  on  the  accidental  difpofition  of  a  people,  it  will 
-jiot  always  be  the  fame.  It  is  a  matter  well  known  to  every  man  wha 
has  lately  been  in  France,  that  a  very  extraordinary  change  is  work- 
ing itfeif  in  the  minds  of  the  people  of  that  nation.  A  fpirit  that 
will  render  France  exceedingly  formidable  whenever  its  government 
faall  embiace  the  fortunate  opportunity  of  doubling  its  (Irtngth  by  al- 
lying, if  it  may  be  fo  exprefTed  (for  it  is  difficult  to  exprefs  a  new 
idea  by  old  terms)  the  majclly  of  the  fovereign  v,ith  the  majefly  of 
the  nation ;  for  of  ail  alliances  that  is  iuiinitdy  the  flrongeft  and  ihc 


1.6  PA-INIL^s    WORKS. 

fafefl  to  be  trufled  to^  becaufe  the  interert  fo  formed,  and  operating 
againft  external  enemies  can  never  be  divided. 

It  may  be  taken  as  a  certain  rule,  that  a  fubje<5l  of  any  cciintiT' 
attached  to  the  gx)vernment  on  the  principles  above-mentioned  is  of 
twice  the  value  he  was  before.  Freedom  in  the  fubjed  is  not  a  di- 
minution, as  was  formerly  believed,  of  the  pov^^er  of  government,  but. 
an  increafe  of  it.  Yet  the  progrefs  by  which  changes  of  this  kind  are 
effedcd,  requires  to  be  nicely  attended  to. 

Were  governments  to  offer  freedom  to  the  people,  or  to  fiiew  an 
anxiety  for  that  purpofe,  the  offer  mofl  probably  would  be  rekaed^ 
The  pvurpofe  for  which  it  was  offered,  might  be  mifirufted.  There- 
lore  the  defire  muH  originate  with,  and  proceed  from  the  mafs  of  the^ 
people,  and  when  the  imprefiion  becomes  univerfal,  and  not  before,  ia 
the  importr.nt  moment  for  the  mod  effectual  confolidation  of  national 
Itrerigth  and  greatneis  that  can  take  place. .  , 

^Vhile  this  change  is  v/orking,  there  wiD  appear  a  kind  of  chaos  in 
the  nation ;  hut  the  creation  we  enjoy  arofe  out  of  a  chaos,  and  our 
greateft  blclTings  appear  to  have  a  coufufed  beginning. 

Therefore  w-t:  may  take  it  for  granted,  that  what  has  at  this  mo- 
ment the  appearaivce  of  diforder  in  France,  is  no  more  than  one  t»f  the 
great  links  in  tliat  great  chain  of  circiimftances  by  v.diich  nations  ac- 
quire the  fummit  of  their  greatnefs.  The  provincial  aiTemblies  ah*eady 
begun  in  France,  are  as  full,  or  rather  a  fuller  reprefentatlon  of  the, 
people  than  the  parliaments  of  England  are. 

Trie  French,  or,  as  they  were  formerly  called,  the  Franks  (frora 
\ylience  came  the  Engh'fh  ^ord  frank  and  free)  v/ereoppe  the  freefl 
people  in  Europe;  and  as  nations  appear  to  have  their  jxeijiidical  revo-> 
lutions,  it  is  very  probable  they  will  be  fo  again.  Tkie<;hangc  is  al- 
ready begun,  The  people  of  France,  as  it  is  befope-'o^'fervcd,  arc 
beginning  to  think  for  themfelvcj,  and  th»  people  of  Bngland  refign- 
ing  up  the  prerogative  of  thinking. 

We  fhall  nov/ proceed  to  com.pare  the  prefcnt  condition  of  England 
and  France  as  to  population,  revenues  and  wealth,  and  to  fncw  that 
neither  is  in  a  condition  of  going  to  war,  and  that  war  can  end  in  no- 
thing but  lofs,  and  mod  probably,  a  temporary  ruin  to  both  nations. 

To  eflabiifii  this  point  fo  neceffary  for  both  nations  to  be  imprciTed 
with,  a  free  inveftigatian  of  all  the  matters  connected  with  it  is  indlf- 
penfible:  If,  therefore,  any  thing  herein  advanced  fhall  be  difagree- 
able,  it  muft  be  luHified  on  the  ground  that  It  Is  better  to  be  known 
in  order  to  prevent  ruin,  than  to  be  concealed,  when  luch  conceal-, 
ment  fervcs  only  to  hail  en  the  ruin.  ; 


PROSteCTS  ON  THE  kUBlCON.  i? 

OF  POPULATION. 
The  population  of  France  being  upwards  of  twenty-foar  millions^ 
Is  more  than  double  that  of  Great  J3';ituin  and  Irela.^d ;  beiides  which 
France  recruits  nio^je  folditrs  iu  SvvIiTerlaad  than  England  dof>  iii 
Scotland  and  Ireland.  To  this  may  likewife  be  added,  tLat  England 
and  Ireland  are  not  on  the  beil  teriiis.  Tlie  fufpicion  that  Lii^.h.nd 
governi  Ireland  for  the  purpofe  of  li.ev^ping;  her  low  to  prevent  Ikt  be- 
oorainij  a  rival  iii  trade  and  manuiatiures,  will  always  opei'utc  to  kui.d 
Ireland  in  a  iliate  of  featimeatal  holliUti,e^  >vith  JEugUnd. 

REVENUES. 

The  revenues  of  France  arc  twe{:ty-fuur  millions  ftcjling.  Tlie 
revenues  of  England  fifteen  millions  and  an  half.  The  taxes  pef 
head  in  France  are  twenty  fiiilh'ngs  llerling  j  t'ne  taxes  per  head  m 
England  are  two  pounds  four  ftiiUings  and  two  pence.  I'he  uational 
debt  in  France  iuclading  the  life  aniiuitie.s  (which  are  two-nfths  of 
the  whole  debt,  and  are  annually  expiring  J  at  flcveii  years  purehafe, 
is  one  hundred  and  forty-two  millions  flerling.  The  national  debt  of 
England,  the  whole  of  which  is  on  perpetual  intereit,  is  two  hundred 
and  forty-hve  millions.  The  national  debt  of  France  contains  a  power 
of  annihilating  itfclf  without  any  new  taxes  for  that  purpofe ;  becaufe 
it  needs  nomoie  than  to  apply  the  life  annuities  a3  they  expire  to  the 
purchafe  of  the  other  two  fifths,  which  are  on  perpetual  intereft:  But 
the  national  debt  of  Englahd  has  not  this  advantage,  and  therefore  the 
milh'on  a  year  that  is  to  be  applied  towards  reducing  it  is  fo  much 
additional  tax  upon  the  people,   over  and  above  the  current  fervice. 

W  E  A  L  T  H. 

This  is  an  inrfnortarit  invellig-atioa,  it  oujht  therefore  to  be  heard 
ifiith  patience,  and  judged  of  v.-ithout  prejudice. 

Nothing  is  more  confcion'  than  fov  people  to  miftake  one  thing  for 
another.  Dc  not  thofe  who  are  crying  up  the  wealth  of  the  nation 
xniftake  a  paper  currency  for  riches  ?  To  afcertiin  this  point  may  b€ 
one  of  the  means  of  preventing  ih:xt  ruin  which  cannot  fail  to  follow 
^y  perilling  in  the  miftake. 

The  higheft  eftimation  that  is  made  of  the  quantity  of  gold  and 
filver  in  Britain  at  tiiisprefent  day  is  twenty  millions:  And  thofe  who 
are  moft  converfant  with  money  tranfadlions,  beheve  it  to  be  confider- 
ably  below  that  fum.  Yet  this  is  no  more  money  than  what  the 
nation  poflefled  twenty  years  ago,  and  therefore,  whatever  her  trade 
may  be,  it  has  produced  to  htr  no  profit.     Certainly  no  man  can  be 

Vol.  II.  Vd 


i«  P  A  I  N  E  '  s    W  O  R  K  S. 

fo  unvviTe  as  to  fuppofe  that  increafing  tlie  quantity  of  bank  notes, 
which  is  done  with  as  little  trouble  as  printing  of  news-papers,  is 
national  wealth. 

The  quantity  of  money  in  the  nation  was  very  well  afcertained  in 
th.G  years  1773,   74,  and  76,  by  calling  in  the  light  gold  coin. 

There  were  upwards  of  fifteen  millions  and  a  half  of  gold  coin  then 
called  in,  which,  with  upwards  of  two  millions  of  heavy  guineas  that 
remained  out,  and  the  lilver  coin  made  about  twenty  millions,  which, 
is  more  than  there  is  at  this  day.  There  is  an  amazing  increafe  in 
the  circulation  of  bank,  paper,  which  is  no  more  national  wealth 
than  ncAVs-papers  are  ;  bccaufe  an  increafe  of  promifibry  notes,  the 
capital  remaining  unincreafing  in  the  fame  proportion,  is  no  increafe 
of  wealth.  It  ferves  to  raife  falfe  ideas  which  the  judicious  foon 
difcover,  arid  the  ignorant  experience  to  their  coft. 

Out  of  twenty  milliona  fieiling,  the  prefent  quantity  of  real  mo- 
ney in  the  nation,  it  would  be  too  great  an  :;IIowance  to  fay  that  one- 
fourth  of  that  fum,  which  is  five  millions,  was  in  London.  But 
even  admitting  this  to  be  the  cafe,  it  would  require  no  very  conjuring 
powers  to  afcertain  pretty  nearly  what  proportion  of  that  fum  of  five 
millions  couM  be  in  the  bank.  It  would  be  ridiculous  to  fuppofe  it 
could  be  lefs  than  half  a  million,  and  extravagant  to  fuppofe  it  could 
be  two  millions. 

It  likevvrife  requires  no  very  extraordinary  difcernment  to  afcertain 
hov/  imraenle  the  quantity  of  bank  notes,  compared  to  its  capital  in 
the  bank  muK  be,  when  it  is  confidered,  that  the  national  taxes  are 
paid  in  bank  notes,  that  all  great  tranfaftions  are  done  in  bank  notes, 
and  that  were  a  loan  for  twenty  millions  to  be  opened  at  the  meeting 
of  parliament,  it  would  moil  probably  be  fubfcribed  in  a  few  days  ; 
Yet  all  men  mufl  know  the  loan  could  not  be  paid  in  money,  becaufe 
it  Is  at  leaft  four  times  greater  than  all  the  money  in  London,  in- 
cluding ihe  bankers  and  the  bank  amount  too.  In  Ihort,  every  thing 
(hov^'s,  that  the  rage  that  overrun  America,  for  paper  money,  or 
paper  currency,  has  reached  to  England  under  another  name.  There 
it  was  called  continental  money,  and  here  it  is  called  bank  notes.  But 
it  fignlfies  not  what  name  it  bears,  if  the  capital  is  not  equal  to  the 
redemption. 

There  is  likewife  another  circumftance  that  cannot  fail  to  ftrike 
with  fome  force  when  it  id  mentioned,  becaufe  every  man  that  has  any 
thing  to  do  with  money  tranfa6tions,  will  feel  the  truth  of  it,  though 
he  may  not  before  have  refledled  upon  it.  It  is  the  embarraffed 
condition  into  which  the  gold  coin  h  tlirown   by  the   neeeflity  of 


PROSPECTS  ON  THE  RUBICON.  19^ 

weighing  it,  and  by  refufing  guineas  that  are  even  (landing  weighty 
and,  there  appear  to  be  but  very  few  heavy  ones.  Whether  this  k 
intended  to  force  the  paper  currency  into  circulation,  is  not  here  at- 
tempted to  be  aflerted,  but  it  certainly  has  that  effect  to  a  very  great 
degree,  becaufe  people,  rather  than  fubmit  to  the  trouble  and  hazavd 
of  weighing,  will  take  paper  in  ^preference  to  money.  This  was 
once  the  cafe  in  America. 

The  natural  effeft  of  increafing  and  continuing  to  increafe  paper 
currencies  is  that  of  bani(hing  the  real  money.  The  (hadow  takes 
place  of  the  fubllance  till  the  country  is  left  with  only  fnadows  in  its 
hands. 

A  trade  that  does  not  increafe  the  quantity  of  real  money  in  a 
country,  cannot  be  ftyled  a  profitable  trade ;  yet  this  is  certainly  the 
cafe  with  England  :  And  as  to  credit,  of  which  fo  much  has  been 
faid,  it  may  be  founded  on  ignorance  or  a  falfe  belief,  as  well  as  on 
real  ability. 

In  Amfterdam,  the  money  depofited  in  the  bank  is  never  taken 
out  again.  The  depofitors,  when  they  have  debts  to  pay,  transfer 
their  right  to  the  pcrfons  to  whom  they  are  indebted,  and  thofc 
again  proceed  by  the  fame  pratlice,  and  the  transfer  of  the  right 
goes  for  payment;  now  could  all  the  money  depofited  in  the  bank  of 
Amfterdam  be  privately  removed  away,  and  the  matter  be  kept  a 
fecret,  the  ignorance,  or  the  belief  that  the  money  was  flill  there, 
would  give  the  fame  credit  as  if  it  had  not  been  removed.  In  fnort, 
credit  is  often  no  more  than  an  opinion,  and  the  difference  between 
credit  and  money  is  that  money  requires  no  opinion  to  fupport  it. 

All  the  countries  in  Europe  annually  increafe  in  their  quantity  of 
gold  .and  filver  except  England.  By  the  regifters  kept  at  Lifboii 
and  Cadiz,  the  two  ports  into  which  the  gold  and  filver  from  South 
America  are  imported,  it  appears  that  above  eighty  millions  fterling 
have  been  imported  within  tvvrenty  years.*  This  has  fpread  itfelf 
over  Europe,  and  increafed  the  quantity  in  all  the  countries  on  the 
continent,  yet  twenty  years  ago  there  was  as  much  gold  and  filver 
in  England  as  there  is  at  this  time. 

The  value  of  the  filver  imported  into  Europe  exceeds  that  of  th.e 
gold,  yet  every  one  can  fee  there  is  no  increafe  of  filver  coin  in  Eng- 
land; very  little  filver  coin  appearing  except  what  are  called  liirmin^'- 

*  Frotn  1763/0  1777,  a  period  of  ^/ieen  years  of  pence,  the  regif 
tered  import  at  ions  of  gold  and  fdver  into  JLiJbon  and  Cadiz  j  nvas  feventy 
millions  flerlingx  h^fidss  ivhat  tvas  privately  landed^ 


29  PAINEVs    WORKS: 

liam  niiilin^s,  which  have  a  faint  imprellion  of  king  William  on  ottc 
fide,  and  are  fmooth  on  the  other. 

In  what  is  the  profits  of  trade  to  fhe^v  itfelf  but  by  increafing  the 
quantity  of  that  v/hich  is  the  objefl  of  trade,  money  ?  An  increafe 
of  paper  is  not  an  increafe  of  national  profit  any  more  than  it  is  an  In- 
creafe  of  national  money,  and  the  f.onfounding  paper  and  money  to« 
p ether,  or  not  attending  to  the  diflniclion,  is  a  rock  that  the  nation 
will  one  day  fplit  iipbii. 

Whether  the  payment  of  interefl  to  foreigners,  or  the  trade  to  the 
Eail- Indies,  or  the  nation  embroiling  itfelf  in  foreign  wars,  or  whe- 
ther the  amount  of  all  the  trade  v/hich  England  carries  on  with  dif- 
fereht  parts  of  the  world*  colle(Sl:iveIy  taken,  balances  itfelf  without 
profit;  -whether  orte  or  all  of  thefe  is  the  caufe,  why  the  quantity  of 
money  does  not  increafe  in  England  is  not,  in  this  place,  the  objedt 
of  enquiry.  It  is  the  fact  and  not  the  caufe  that  is  the  matter  here 
treated  of. 

Men  immerfed  in  trade  and  the  concerns  of  a  compting  houfe,  are 
'not  the  moil  fpeculative  in  national  affairs,  or  always  the  beft  judge* 
of  them.  Accuflomed  to  run  rifk's  in  trade,  they  are  habitually  pre- 
pared to  run  riii^s  with  government,  and  though  they  are  the  fiiil  to 
fuffer,  they  are  often  the  lail  to  forefee  an  evil. 

Let  us  now  call  a  look  towards  the  manufa^ures.  A  great  deal 
has  been  faid  of  their  flourifhing  condition,  and  perhaps  a  great  deal 
too  much,  for  it  m?y  again  be  ailved,  where  is  the  profit  if  there  is  no 
increafe  of  money  in  the  nation  ? 

The  woollen  manufa»5ture  is  the  ftaple  manufa6ture  of  England,  nnd 
this  is  evidently  on  the  decline,  in  fome,  if  not  in  all,  its  branches.  1  he 
city  of  Norwich,  One  of  the  moil  populous  cities  in  Enp-land,  and 
wholly  dependant  on  the  woollen  manufafture,  is,  at  this  day,  in  a 
very  impovenfried  condition,  owing  to  the  decline  of  its  trade. 

But  not  to  reft  the  matter  on  a  general  afiertion,  or  embarrafs  it 
with  numerous  ftatements,  we  will  produce  a  circumilance  by  whic^ 
the  whole  progrefs  of  the  trade  may  be  afcertained. 

So  long  as  thirty  years  ago  the  price  paid  to  tht  fpinn'ers  of  wool 
was  one  fhilling  for  twcnty-foar  Jlcains,  each  fkain  containing  five  hun- 
dred and  fixty  yards.  This,  according  to  the  term  of  the  trade,  was 
^giving  -a  fliilling  for  a  billing.  A  good  hand  would  fpin  twehe  Ikains, 
which  was  fix-pence  a  day. 

According  to  the  increafe  of  taxes,  and  the  incretfed  price  of  all 
the  articles  of  lift,  they  certainly  ought  now  to  get  at  leafl;  fifteen 
pence,  for  what  thirty  years  ago  they  got  one  fhilling.       But  iuch  i> 


PROSPECTS  ON  THE  HUBICON.  1 1 

ihe  decline  of  the  trade,  that  the  cnfe  is  direftly  the  contrary.  They 
now  get  but  nine  pence  for  the  fiiilh'ng,  that  is,  they  get  but  nine 
pence  for  what  thirty  years  ago  they  got  one  fln'lh'ng.  Car.  thefe 
peopk  cry  out  for  war,  w'iien  tliey  are  ah/eady  half  ruined  by  the  de- 
cline of  trade,  zvA  half  de\'OUrcd  by  the  increafe  cf  taxes? 

But  th*?  is  not  the  whole  of  the  misfortunes  which  that  part  of  the 
countiy  fufters,  and  which  will  extend  to  others.  The  Norfolk  farm- 
ers were  the  firft  who  went  into  the  praftice  of  manuring  their  land 
with  T.arl:  But  time  has  fliewn,  that  though  it  gave  a  vigour  to  the 
land  for  Tome  years,  it  operated  in  the  end  to  cshaufl  its  (Irimina;  that 
the  lands  in  many  pnvts  are  worfe  than  before  they  began  to  marl, 
and  that  it  will  not  anfwer  to  marl  a  fecond  time. 

The  manufactures  of  Manchefter,  Birmingham  and  iShei!ield  have 
had  of  late  a  confiderable  {pung^  but  this  appears  to  be  rather  on  fpe- 
cuiation  than  certainty.  The  fpeculations  on  the  American  market 
have  failed,  and  that  on  Ruffia  is  becoming  veiy  precarious.  Experi- 
ence likewife  was  wanting  to  afcertain  the  quantity  which  the  treaty 
*f  commerce  with  France  would  give  fale  to,  and  it  if  moft  probabk 
'the  eHimations  have  been  too  high,  i¥iore  efpetially  as  Englifn  goods 
will  now  become  unpopular  in  France,  which  Wa5  not  the  cale  before 
the  prefent  injud'cious  rupture. 

But  in  the  beO:  flate  which  manufactures  can  be  in,  they  are  ver)- 
unliable  fources  of  national  v/ealth.  The  reafons  are,  that  they  feldr.r*. 
continue  lonsr  in  one  fear.  The  market  for  them  det)end8  unon  the 
caprice  of  fafliions,  and  fometimes  of  politics  in  foreign  countries,  and 
^hey  are  ^t  all  times  ey.pofed  to  rivalfhip  as  well  as  to  change.  Tlie 
Americans  have  already  fcveral  manufaclurcs  among  them,  v»'hich  tliey 
prefer  to  the  Englifh,  fuch  ?ts  axes,  fcythes,  fickle?,  hoes,  planes, 
na?ls.  Sec.  Window  glafs,  which  was  once  a  confiderable  article  of 
{Exportation  from  England  to  America,  the  Am.ericans  now  procure 
from  otiier  countries,  nearly  as  good  as  the  Engliili  crown  glafs,  and 
but  little  dearer  than  the  common  green  window  glafs. 

It  is  fometv-hat  rem.arkable  that  fo  many  pcn^  have  been  difplared  Lo 
{he\v  what  is  called  the  Increafe  of  the  commerce  of  England,  and  yet 
all  ofthem  have  ftept  ihort  of  the  grand  point,  that  is,  they  have  gone 
Ro  farther  than  to  fhew  that  a  larger  number  of  fnipping',  and  a  greater 
qu''.ntity  of  tonnage  have  been  emivloyed  of  late  •j'^ars  than  fo:*merlv  : 
But  this  is  no  more  than  what  is  happening  in  otiier  parts  of  Eurvope. 
The  prefent  fa fnion  of  the  world  is  con:merce,  and  the  quantity  iii- 
qreafes  in  Era  ".ce  as  well  as  in  England. 

!Bnt  rhe  obje dt  of  all  trade  is  profit,  and  profit  fiews  ftftlf,  not  by 


22  PA  IN  E's    W  O  R  KS. 

an  increafe  of  paper  currency,  for  that  may  be  nationally  had  without 
the  trouble  of  trade,  but  by  an  increafe  of  real  money  :  therefore  the 
eftimation  fhould  have  ended,  not  in  the  comparative  quantity  of  {hip- 
ping and  tonnage,  but  in  the  comparative  quantity  of  gold  and  filver. 
Had  the  quantity  of  gold  and  filver  increafed  in  England,  the  mi- 
iiiilerial  writers  would  not  have  ftopped  fhort  at  flipping  and  tonnage ; 
but  if  they  know  any  thing  of  the  matter,  they  muil  know  that  it 
does  not  increafe,  and  that  the  deception  is  occafioned  by  the  increafe 
of  paper  money,  and  that  as  paper  continues  to  increafe,  gold  and 
filver  will  diminiih.      Poorer  in  wealth  and  richer  in  delufion. 

Something  is  radically  wrong,  and  time  will  difcovei  it  to  be  put- 
ting paper  in  the  room  of  money. 

,  Out  of  one  hundred  millions  Ilerling  of  gold  and  filver,  which  muft 
have  been  imported  into  Europe  from  South  America  Unce  the  com- 
mencement of  the  peace  before  laft,  it  does  not  appear  that  England 
has  derived  or  retains  any  portion  of  it. 

Mr.  Neckar  flatus  the  annual  increafe  of  gold  and  filver  in  France^ 
that  is,  the  proportion  which  France  draws  of  the  annual  importation 
into  Europe,  to  be  upwauds  of  one  million  fterhng.  But  England  in 
the  fpace  of  twenty  years,  does  not  appear  to  have  increafed  in  any 
thing  birt  paper  currency. 

Credulity  is  wealth  while  credulity  lafts,  and  credit  is,  in  a  thoufand 
inRances,  the  child  of  credulity.  It  requires  no  more  faith  to  be- 
lieve paper  to  be  money,  than  to  believe  a  man  could  go  into  a  quart 
bottle ;  and  the  nation  whofe  credulity  can  be  impofed  upon  by  bottle 
conjjjring,  can,  for  a  time,  be  impofed  upon  by  paper  conjuring. 

From  tlicfe  matters  we  pafs  on  to  make  fome  obfervations  on  the 
national  debt,  which  is  another  fpecies  of  paper  currency.. 

In  fiiort,  to  w^hatever  point  the  eye  is  diredled,  whether  to  the 
money,  the  paper,  the  manufadures,  the  taxes,  or  the  debt,  the  ina- 
bility of  fupporting  a  war  is  evident,  unlefs  it  is  intended  to  carry  it 
on  by  fleecing  the  fidn  over  people's  ears  by  taxes;  and  therefore  the 
endangering  the  nation  in  a  war  for  the  fake  of  the  fladtholder  of 
Holland,  or  the  king  of  PrulTia,  or  any  other  foreign  affairs,  from 
which  England  can  derive  no  polnble  advantage,  is  an  abfurd  and 
ruinous  fyllem  of  politics. 

France  perhaps  is  not  in  a  better  fituation,  and,  therefore,  a  war 
where  both  mull  Icfe,  and  wherein  they  could  only  ad  the  part  of 
ieconds,  mufl  hiftorically  have  been  denominated  a  boyifh,  foolifl^, 
ttnuecefTary  quarrel. 

But  before  we  enter  on  the  fwbjed  of  the  national  debt,  it  w/H 


PROSPECTS  ON  THE  RUBICON.  23 

be  proper  to  make  a  general  review  of  the  different  manner  of  car- 
rying on  war  fince  the  revoUuion  to  what  was  the  praftice  before. 

Before  the  revohition  the  intervals  of  peace  and  war  always  fvnmd 
means  to  pay  off  the  expence,  and  leave  the  nation  clear  of  incumbrance 
at  the  commencement  of  any  fucceeding  war  ;  and  even  for  fomc 
years  after  the  revolution  this  practice  was  continued. 

From  the  year  1688,  (the  era  of  the  revolution)  to  the  year  1702, 
a  period  of  fourteen  years,  the  funis  borrowed  by  government  at 
different  times,  amounted  to  forty-four  millions;  yet  this  lum  wa-s 
paid  off  almofl  as  faff  as  it  was  boiTowed;  thirty-four  millions  being 
paid  off,  at  the  commencement  of  the  year  1702.  This  was  a  greater 
exertion  than  the  nation  has  ever  made  fmce,  for  exertion  is  not  in 
borrowing  but  in  paying. 

From  that  time  wars  have  been  carried  on  by  borrowing  and  fund- 
ing the  capital  on  a  perpetual  interefl,  inftead  of  paying  it  off,  and 
thereby  continually  carrying  forward  and  accumulating  the  weight 
and  expence  of  every  war  into  the  nest.  By  this  means  that  which 
was  light  at  firfl  becomes  Immenfely  heavy  at  lafl.  The  nation  has 
now  on  its  fhoulders  the  weight  of  all  the  wars  from  the  time  of 
queen  Anne.  This  pradlice  is  exaftly  like  that  of  loading  a  horfe 
with  a  feather  at  a  time  till  you  break  his  back. 

The  national  debt  exhibits  at  this  day  a  ilriking  novelty.  Tt  hos 
travelled  on  in  a  circular  progrefTion  till  the  amount  of  the  annual 
interefl  has  exactly  overtaken,  or  become  equal  to,  the  iirft  capital  of 
the  national  debt,  nine  millions.  Here  begins  the  evidence  of 
the  predlclions  fo  long  foretold  by  the  ablefl  calculators  in  the  nation. 
The  interefl  will  in  fuccelTiou  overtake  all  the  fucceeding  capitals, 
and  that  with  the  proportioned  rapidity  with  which  thofe  capitals 
accumulated  ;  becaufe  by  continuing  the  pratlice  not  only  higher 
and  higher  premiums  nmfl  be  given  for  loans,  but  the  money,  or  rather 
the  paper,  v/ill  not  go  fo  far  as  it  formerly  did,  and  therefore  the  debt 
wiU  increafe  with  a  continual  increaiing  velocity. 

The  expence  of  every  war,  fince  the  national  debt  began,  has,  upon 
an  average,  been  double  the  expence  of  the  war  preceding  it :  the 
expence  therefore  of  the  next  war  will  be  at  leafl  two  hundred  mil- 
lions, which  wiU  increafe  the  annual  interefl  to  at  leafl  feventeen  mil- 
lions, and  confequently  the  taxes  in  the  fame  proportion ;  the  follow- 
ing war  will  encreafe  the  interefl  to  thirty-three  millions,  and  a  third 
war  will  mount  up  the  interell  to  fixLy-five  millions.  This  is  not 
going  on  in  the  fpirit  of  predidlion,  b\!t  taking  what  has  already  been 
as  a  rule  for  what  will  yet  be,   and  therefore  the  nation   has  bv.t  a 


24  MAINE'S    W  O  11  K  S. 

inifcruble  profpevl  to  look  at.  The  v/eight  of  accumulciting-  intercft 
is  not  much  fck  till  after  many  years  have  palfed  over ;  but  when  ft 
begins  to  be  heavy,  as  it  does  now,  the  burden  incrcafes  like  that  cf 
Vurd.:tf  no;  a  horfe  with  a  farthin^r  for  the  firfl  nail  4»f  th<i  flioc  and 
doubling-  ft.  • 

As  to  Mr.  Pitt's  fchenie  of  reducing  the  national  debt  by  a  millioB 
a  year,  applied  to  the  purchafe  of  (lock,  ft  v/ill  turn  out,  to  lay  no 
v/orfc  of  it,  a  ridicuknis  and  fiivoious  proje6t:  For  if  a  niiniller  has 
not  experience  enough  to  diiLinguifn  a  feather  in  the  air,  and  fuch 
there  always  vvfll  be,  from  the  god  of  v.'ar,  nor  the  clan^.otirs  and  in- 
tereil  of  thofe  who  ar£  feeldng  for  jobs  and  contrafts,  from  the  voice 
and  interell  of  the  people,  he  will  loon  precipitate  the  nation  into  fome 
unneceiiary  war  ;  and  therefore  any  fcheme  of  redemption  of  the  debt, 
founded  on  the  fuppofed  continuance  of  peaee,  will,  witb  fuch  ccn- 
du-d;,  be  no  more  than  a  balloon. 

That  the  funding  fyftem  contains  within  itfelf  the  feeds  of  Its  ows 
deilrnftioD,  is  as  certain  as  that  of  the  human  body  containing  withinf 
ftfelf  the  feeds  of  death.  The  event  is  as  fixed  as  fate,  unlefs  it  can- 
cot  be  taken  as  a  proof  that  becaufe  we  are  not  dead  we  are  not  let 
die. 

The  confequence  of  the  funding  fcheme,  even  if  no  other  event 
takes  place,  will  be  to  create  two  violent  parties  in  the  nation.  The 
one  goaded  by  taxes  continually  increafing  to  pay  the  intereft,  the 
other  reaping  a  benefit  from  the  taxes  by  receiving  the  intereft.  This 
is  very  (Irongly  fliadcwed  forth,  like  the  hand-writing  on  the  wall,  by  , 
the  ingenious  author  of  tlie  Commercial  Atlas  in  his  cbfei-vations  oil 
the  national  d<;bt» 

The  {lumber  that  for  feverai  years  has  over-jfhadowed  the  natiort 
in  all  matters  of  public  finance,  cannot  be  fuppofed  to  laft  for  ever. 
The  pcijple  have  not  yet  awakened  to  the  fubjeifl,  and  this  is  tak- 
ing for  granted  they  ne'.^r  will.  But,  if  a  fuppofed  unnecefTary  ex- 
penditure of  between  five  and  fix  million  fterling  in  the  "finances  of 
France  (for  the  writer  undertakes  not  to  judge  of  the  fadt)  has 
awakened  that -whole  nation,  a  people  fuppofed  to  be  perfectly  docile 
in  all  national  matters,  furely  the  people  of  England  will  not  be  lefa 
attentive  to  their  rights  and  properties.  If  this  fhculd  not  be  the 
cafe,  the  in^pence  will  be  feirly  drawn,  that  England  is  lofing  the 
fpirit  that  France  is  taking  up,  and  that  it  is  an  ingenious  device  in 
the  mlniilry  to  compofe  the  nation  to  unpopular  and  unneceflary 
taxes,  by  Ihamming  a  victory,  when  there  was  no  enemy  at  hand. 
In  (hort,  every  war  fcrves  t^  incrcafe  every  kind  of  paper  currency 


PROSPECTS  ON  THK  Ilur.ICON.  25 

in  the  nation,  and  to  diminlfh   tlse   quantity  of  gold  and  iuver,  bv 
Cending  it  to  Prufiia  and  other  foreign  countries. 

It  Avi]l  not  be  denied  that  credulity  is  a  rirong  trait  in  tlie  Engli.n 
chara<fter;  and  this  has  in  no  in  (lance  Tnewn  itfelf  more  than  in  thiU 
takin,:^  paper  for  money,  except  it  be  in  the  unaccountable  icrnorance 
pf  midaking  the  debt  of  the  nation  for  riches.  Bui  the  fuipicion  is 
:beginning  to  awake. 

Wc  will  clofe  this  ari'cle  with  obferving  that  a  new  kiml  of  p^per 
currency  has  arlfen  with"n  a  few  years,  which  is  that  of  countr)'^  bank 
iiotes  ;  almofl  every  tow  i  now  has  its  bank,  its  paper  mint,  and  the 
coinage  of  p^per  is  became  univerfal.  In  the  mean  time  the  melting 
^iown  the  light  giiineas,  and  recoining  them,  pafTcs  with  thofe  who 
know. no  better  for  an  i')creafe  of  money;  becaufe  every  new  guineji 
thev  fee,  and  which  is  but  feldom,  they  naturally  fuppofe  to  be  a  pu.'- 
nea  more,  w^hen  it  Is  really  nothing  elfe  than  an  old  guinea  new  caih 
From  this  account  of  the  money,  paper,  and  national  debt  of  Eng- 
land, v/e  proceed  to  compare  it  with  the  money,  paper,  and  national 
4lebt  of  France. 

It  is  very  well  known  that  paper  has  not  the  credit  in  France  which 
}t  has  In  England,  and  that,  confequentlv,  there  is  much  lefs  of  it. 
This  has  naturally  operated  to  increafe  the  quantity  of  gold  and  filver 
in  France,  and  prevotit  the  increafe  of  paoer. 

The  higheft  ellimation  of  the  quantity  of  gold  and  fdvcr  in  Eng- 
land, as  already  dated,  is  twenty  millions  fterling,  and  tlic  quantity 
ef  paper  grafted  thereon,  immenfe. 

The  quantity  of  gold  and  filver  in  France,  is  upv/ards  of  ninety 
riillions  fterling,  and  the  quantity  of  paper  grafted  thereon,  trifling. 
France,  therefore,  has  a  long  run  of  credit  now  in  referve,  which  Eng- 
kndhas  already  expended;  and  it  will  naturally  follow,  that  when  the 
government  of  France  and  the  nation  (hall  adjuft  their  differences  by 
an  amicable  embi-ace  of  each  other,  that  this  referved  credit  will  be 
brought  forth,  and  the  power  of  France  will  be  at  leaft  doubly  in- 
creafed.     The  adjuftment  of  thefe  differences  is  but  the  bufTnefs  of  a 
day,  whenever  its  government  fliall  fee  the  proper  moment  for  doing 
it,  and  nothing  would  precipitate  this  event  more  than  a  war.     The 
cry  of  war,  from  the  injudicious  provocations  given  by  the  Briti(h 
miniftry,  and  the  difidvantageous  effeft  of  the  commercial  treaty,  i^ 
becom.ing  popular  in  France. 

The  near  fituation  of  France  to  Spain  and  Portugal,  tl^e  two  couh- 
tries  which  import  gold  and  fdver,  and  her  manufactures  being  better 

adapted  to  the  warm  climate  of  thofe  countties,  than,  the  manufac- 
VOL.  II.  £ 


26  PAINE's     WORKS. 

tures  of  England,  give  her  fiiperior  opportunities  of  drawing  money 
into  the  nation,  and  as  fhe  has  but  little  trade  to  the  Eaft  Indies,  the 
money  fo  drawn  in  is  not  drawn  out  arrain  as  in  Enrland.  Another 
advantage  is,  that  from  the  greatnefs  of  her  dominions  fiie  has  no  oc- 
cafion  to  waile  her  wealth  in  hiring  foreign  troops,  as  is  the  praftice 
with  England;  and  a  third  advantage  is,  that  the  money  which  Eng- 
land fquanders  in  Priiffia  and  other  countries  on  the  continent  ferves 
to  increafe  the  wealth  of  France,  becaufe  a  confiderable  part  of  it  Gen- 
tries there  through  the  medium  of  her  commerce. 

Admitting  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  to  contain  ten  millions  of  in- 
habitants, tlie  quantity  of  money  per  head  is  forty  (liillings :  The  mo- 
ney per  head  in  France  is  three  pounds  fifteen  riiililngs,  which  is  nearly 
double. 

The  national  debt  of  England,  compared  to  the  whole  amount  of 
money  in  the  nation,  is  as  twelve  to  one,  tliat  is,  the  debt  u  twelve 
times  ffreater  than  all  the  money  amounts  to. 

The  national  debt  of  France,  compared  to  the  whole  amour  t  of  her 
money,  is  coiifiderably  lefs  than  ss  tvro  are  to  one,  that  is,  her  debt 
is  not  fo  much  as  twice  the  amount  of  her  money.  France,  tiiercfore, 
as  already  ilated,-  has  an  immenfe  credit  in  referve  whenever  the  fet- 
tlement  of  her  prefent  internal  differences  fnall  furnira  her  with  the 
means  of  employing  it,  and  that  period,  fo  much  to  be  dreaded  by 
England,  is  hall:ening  on. 

I'he  annual  iutereil  of  the  national  debt  of  England  and  France 
are  nearly  equal,  being  nine  millions  llerlingj  but  with  this  dif- 
ference, that  above  three  millions  and  a  half  of  the  annual  iaterefl  of 
France  are  only  life  annuities.  The  intereft,  therefore,  of  her  debl 
leflens  every  year,  and  flie  will  have  a  furplus  up  to  the  amount  of 
three  raiilions  and  a  half,  to  appU  to  the  purchafe  of  that  part  of  the 
debt  which  is  on  perpetual  iutcren:;  therefore,  without  any  new  taxes 
for  that  purpofe,  fliecan  difcharge  her  \-Ax-\t  debt  in  lefs  than  a  third 
of  the  time  on  which  it  can  be  done  in  England,  according  to  Mr, 
Pitt's  plan,  with  his  additional  tax  of  a  n*iilion  a  year. 

But  let  the  event  of  Mr.  P^itt's  plan  be  what  it  may,  as  to  reduc- 
ing the  debt,  there  is  one  circumilance  that  cannot  fail  to  accompany 
it,  which  Is,  that  of  making  it  the  inlereil  of  government,  in  execut- 
ing this  plan,  to  undermine  the  interefl  of  its  creditors,  or  the  value 
of  the  funds,  for  the  purpofe  of  purchafir.g  at  a  cheaper  rate. 

The  plan  is  founded  on  the  prefumption  of  a  long  uninterrupted 
peace,  and  that  future  loans  would  not  be  wanted,  which  cannot  now- 
be^expeded,  for  France  in  her  turn  is  getting  into  a  temper  for  war. 


PROSPECTS.  ON  THE  RUBICON,  2  7 

The  plan  naturally  (Irikes  at  lli;' creJil  of  government,  in  cont;ir.<!^ing 
further  debts,  for  v/ere  a  Iciii  lo  be  opened  to-morrow,  the  fubfcrib- 
crs  naturally  perceiving  that  it  was  the  ir.tcreH:  of  government  to  un- 
dermine them  as  Toon  as  they,  became  crediiors,  would  confequently 
feck  to  fcciirc  thcmfelves,  by  dcmandii.^  higher  premiums  at  firil.  It 
is  a  que/lion,  whether  a  premium  of  thirty  per  cent,  is  now  Z2  good 
as  ten  was  before,  and  therefore  the  plan,  in  cafe  of  a  war,  inftead  of 
leffening  the  debt,  fervcs  to  puHi  it  more  rapidly  on. 

The  minilter  certainly  never  underflood  the  natural  operation  of  Ir.s 
f)Ian,  or  he  would  not  have  acfted  as  he  has  done.  The  plan  has  two 
edges,  while  he  iiris  fuppofed  it  to  h?»ve  o;^Iy  one.  It  flrjkes  at  the 
debt  in  peace,  and  at  the  credit  in  war. 

The  gentlem.an  who  originally  furniilied  the  minifter  vrith  this  plan, 
now  gives  it  totally  up.  He  kncv/  its  operation  h-Dth.  in  peace  and 
war,  but  the  miniiler  appears  not  to  have  comprehended  it:  But  if  lie 
has  made  a  miflake,  his  youth  and  inexperience  mull  be  his  apology. 

The  plan,  unlefs  it  fhould  be  altered,  that  is  given  out  for  provid- 
iiir  ^or  the  expcace  of  the  late  armaments,  is  in  reality  no  other  than 
the  American  plan  of  paper  mop.ey,  and  it  is  very  probable  tliat  the 
minifter  has  received  it  from  fome  American  refugee. 

The  plan  given  out  ir,,  that  the  minifter  is  to  borrov/  the  mokzy 
of  the  bank.  Here  is  the  dolufion.  The  name  of  money  covers 
the  dtcepticn.  For  the  cafe  l^,  that  the  bank  do  not  lend  the  real 
money,  but  it  iffues  out  an  enu'fiion  of  bank-paper,  aiul  the>prefumip- 
tion  is,  that  there  will  be  no  run  upon  the  bank  in  confequence  of 
fuch  an  extraordinary  emilrion,  but  if  there  fhculd,  no  man  can  be  at 
a  lofs  in  forefeeing  the  ilTue. 

There  are  thofe  who  remember  that  on  a  former  run  the  bank  was 
obliged  to  prolong  the  ti:r.e  by  paying  (hillings  and  fix-pences,  and  it 
is  univerfally  credited  that  a  quantity  of  filver  is  now  preferred  in  the 
bank  for  the  fame  purpote ;  but  the  device,,  to  every  perfon  of  reflexion, 
fliews  that  the  capital  is  not  equal  to  the  demands,  and  that  the 
chapter  of  accidents  Is  part  of  the  bible  of  the  bank. 

It  may  be  allvcd  why  do  not  the  govermvicnt  ilfue  tlie  paper  in- 
ftead of  the  bank  ?  The  anf-.ver  is,  that  it  is  ocaftly  the  fame  thing  in 
the  end,  only  v/ith  this  difilTence  in  the  mode,  that  were  tlie  govern- 
ment to  do  it,  it  vv-ould  be  too  vifible  a  fyilcm  cf  paper  ci]  ;-cncy,  and 
that  a  difguife  is  nccelfary. 

Having  rcrourfe  to  the  bank,  is  a  kind  of  playing  the  bank  off 
againft  the  fund';.  Fighting  one  kir.d  of  paper  againil  another,  an4 
in  the  combat  b«?;th  •.•fill  ke  fuS'ereri-. 


38  P  A  I  N  E '  s    W  O  R  K  S. 

In  fnort,  the  dclufion  of  paper  riches  is  working  as  rapidly  in  Trt^- 
laud  as  it  did  in  America.  A  young  and  inexperienced  miniiief> 
like  a  A'^oung  and  inexperienced  congrefs,  may  fuppofe  that  he  iceh 
mines  of  wealth  in  a  printinir.prefs,  and  that  a  nation  cannot  be  ex- 
haiilled  while  there  is  paper  and  ink  enough  to  print  paper  tivoncy. 
Every  new  emiiiicn,  luitil  the  delufion  burfts,  will  appear  to  the  na- 
tion :m  increafe  of  wealth.  Every  merchant's  coffers  v/iil  appeat 
a  treaiury,  and  he  will  i'weil  with  paper  riches  till  he  becomes  ;i 
bankrupt. 

When  a  bank  makes  too  free  with  its  paper,  it  eX|)ofeS  itfelf  ill 
muca  the  fame  manner  w liich  a  government  does  that  ffiakes  too  free 
with  its  power;  too  much  credit  is  as  bad  as  too  little;  and  there  is' 
fucii  u  thing  as  governing  too  much  as  well  in  a  bank  as  in  govern- 
ment. But  nothino;  cxpolts  a  bank  more  than  being  under  the  in- 
fluence, inilead  oFthe  proLetUon  of  government,  and  whenever  eithei' 
the  property  or  the  credit  of  a  bank,  can  be  commanded  or  influenced 
by  a  government,  or  a  mimiler,   its  deflrud^ion  is  iiot  far  off. 

V7e  havvi  novv  ftated  ilie  comparative  condition  of  England  arid 
Eraiice  as  to  money  matters.  But  there  yet  remain  fom.e  things 
iiecefiUry  to  be  touciicd  upon. 

It  is  an  error  very  frequently  committed  in  the  world  to  mifiakc 
difpolition  for  condition. 

France  with  a  much  better  permanent  condition  for  war  than  Eng- 
land, is  in  a  hio  difpofition  to  enter  into  one,  and  this  difpolition  in 
her  is  miiiakcn  in  Enghnd  for  want  oi  condition ;  and  on  the  other 
]\?.p.dy  the  apparent  diipoiltion  in  England  for  war  is  miilaken  by  her 
for  a  condition  to  undertake  and  carry  one  oh. 

There  appears;  a  uniformity  In  all  the  works  of  nature,  from  ir.di' 
vidiuii  animals  ud  to  nations.  The  fmialler  ianim^ls  are  ah\ays  the 
m.oic  fretful,  paihonatc,  and  infulting.  They  rriilhike  temper  for 
Hrength,  and  often  fall  a  facriiice  to  vexatious  impetuofity  ;  whiJe 
larger  ones  go  calmly  on,  and  require  repeated  provocations  to  in- 
cenfe  them.  I'rance  may  ytt  be  aggravated  into  war,  and  very 
probably  will.  Where  the  condition  exiils  tbe  difpofition  m..y  at 
any  time  take  place.  We  may  cveaie  temper,  but  we  cannot  create 
ilrength. 

While  the  literature  of  England  preferves  an  honourable  rank  among 
the  nations  of  Europe,  her  national  charafter  is  m.oil:  miiierably  fuf- 
fering  in  the  world  ihrongh  her  news  papers.  I'he  moll  barefaced 
perfidioufnefs,  the  moll  abandoned  principles  are  dtiily  propagated. 
A  total  diiregard  to  all  the  obli^aliciis  of  iiUlici^al  faith  and  horroui- 


PROSPECTS  ON  THE  RUBICON.  29 

are  publicly  profefled.  Infliead  of  that  true  greatnefs  of  heart,  that 
generoiis  difdain  of  vulgar  liLtlencfs  that  ou-rht  always  to  accoriip-my 
the  dliputes  of  nations,  fcarcely  any  thing  is  to  be  feen  but  mcau 
abuGf  and  low  fcurrility.  Tliis  is  not  the  cafe  in  any  other  country 
in  the  world  but  Eiiixland. 

We  will  now  proceed  to  conclude  with  a  few  additional  obfervations 
on  the  ftate  of  politics. 

For  fevcral  weeks  the  nation  was  amufed  with  the  daily  rumours 
of  fotne  great  cabinet  fccret,  and  admiring  how  profoundly  thie 
feciet  was  kept,  when  the  only  fccret  was,  that  there  was  no  fecret  to 
divui;re. 

But  this  opinion  of  a  fecret  very  well  fhews  that  the  opinion  of 
the  lation  was  diiFerent  to  the  opinion  of  the  niinifler,  or  the  fuppo- 
iition  of  forne  great  fecret  would  not  have  taken  place,  as  the  affairis 
of  the  {ladtholder  were  then  publicly  knov^n.  It  fliews  that  the  na- 
tion did  not  think  the  lladtholdcr  of  Holland  a  fullicient  reafon  for 
laying  new  taxes  on  England,  and  running  into  the  rifiv:  and  expence 
of  a  war,  and  great  was  the  furprife  when  the  declaration  and  counter 
vleciaration,   like  twin  mice,  peeped  from  the  cabinet. 

But  there  is  one  fecret  that  r  qaires  to  be  inveftigated,  which  is, 
wliither  the  miniiler  did  noi  know  that  France  would  not  engage  in 
a  war,  and  whether  the  preparatiolis  were  not  an  idle  pa-rade,  founded 
on  that  knowledge. 

Whether  it  was  not  meanly  putting  England  under  the  banners 
of  Pruffia,  and  taking  thereby  a  dilhonourable  advantage  of  the  in- 
ternal perplexity  which  France  v\ras  then  in,  and  which  in  its  turn 
may  happen  to  England,  to  aiTume  the  air  of  a  challenge,  which  it 
mull  be  known  v/ould  not  be  accepted,  becaufe  there  was  nothing 
to  m.ake  the  acceptance  necelfary. 

Whether  this  conduct  in  the  miniiler  does  not  mifchtevoiilly  operate 
to  deUroy  the  harmony  that  appeared  to  be  growing  up  betv/een 
the  two  nations  ;  to  leiT^-n,  if  not  totally  deitroy,  the  advantages  of 
the  c  .  nmercial  treaty,  and  to  lay  the  feeds  of  future  v/ars,  when  there 
was  a  proipe^t  of  a  long  and  uninterrupted  peace„ 

When  there  are  two  ways  of  accompliihir.g  the  fame  objecl,  it  al- 
moft  alv/ays  happens  that  tlie  one  is  better  than  the  other;  and  vvhe- 
ther  the  miniiler  has  not  chofen  the  word,  a  fjv/  cbferv;itioiis  u'lll 
elucidate. 

It  fignihes  not  what  aiiy  fchemes,  projedls,  or  even  treaties  iru'/  be. 
formed,  efpeciilly  if  done  under  the  point  of  the  bayonet,  for  ail  that 
can  bs  cxpeded  from  lioUand  is  neutrality.     Her  tradi"  is  wllh  all 


3«>  PAINE's     W  O  R  K  s. 

nations,  and  it  is  frcni  her  neutrality  that  this  trade  has  arifen.  De- 
ilroy  this  neutrality  and  Holland  is  dcftroycd.  Therefore  it  matters 
not  what  fentimciits  party  men  may  be  of  in  Holland  as  to  the  ftadt- 
holdsrlhip,  becanfe  there  is  fcill  a  fuperior  banner  under  which  all 
will  unite. 

Holland  will  not  expofe  her  trade  to  the  devaftations  of  England 
hy  joining  France  in  a  war,  neither  will  fiie  expofe  it  to  France  by 
joining  England.  It  may  very  well  be  afced,  what  aax-  England  or 
1  ranee  to  Holland,  that  fae  fliould  join  with  either  in  a  war,  unlefs 
fhe  is  compelled  bo  it  by  one  or  the  other  making  war  upon  her,  as 
was  the  cafe  in  the  laft  war  ? 

Events  may  Lcn  happen  in  Europe  to  make  all  the  force  that  Pruf- 
Tia  can  raifc  i.ecciTaiy  to  her  own  oefcDce,  and  Holland  muft  be  wife 
enough  to  fee,  that  by  joining  England  Ihe  UQt  only  expofes  her  trade 
to  France  but  likewife  her  dominions,  becaufe  France  can  invade  her 
.  m  a  quarter  In  which  England  cannot  ddevA  her,  for  Holland  lies 
open  to  France  ly  land.  It  is,  therefore,  more  immediately  the 
intereft  of  Holland  to  keep  en  good  terms  with  France,  neither  can 
J^nghud  give  her  any  equivalent  to  balance  this  circumllance.  How 
foolilh  then  are  the  politics  wiiich  are  directed  to  unnatural  and  im- 
pOilible  objedts!  Surely  the  exp(A-ience  of  a  century  pad  is  fufficient 
to  l}\ew  to  any  man,  except  one  of  yederday,  v/hat  the  condud  of 
Holland  in  all  cafes  muil  be. 

But  there  is  another  circumftance  that  does  not  fail  to  iinprefs  fo- 
reigners, and  efpecially  HcHatid,  which  is,  that  the  immenfity  of  the 
national  debt  of  England,  the  pron5c6t  of  its  fiill  increafing^  and  the 
exorbitancy  of  her  paper  currencies,  render  her  too  infecure  in 
herfelf  to  be  much  confided  in  by  foreign  nations  for  any  length 
of  time-     Becaufe  that  which  mull  happen  may  foon  happen. 

Concerning  the  refcript  delivered  by  the  Frc^nch  minifter,  tlicre  is 
one  certain  explanation  to  be  put  upon  it,  which  is,  that  if  France 
had  been  difpofcd  for  war,  (Ije  would  not  have  made  that  communi- 
cation. The  very  making  it  goes  to  a  full  explanation  of  the  parts; 
and  as  foon  as  Mr.  Piit  obtair.ed  this  knowledge,  it  appeared  to  him 
a  iafe  moment  to  gird  on  his  fword,  and  when  he  found  that  France 
was  as  v/ell  vveapcned  as  himfelf  to  propofe  to  take  it  off  again, 
'i'iiis  is  in  a  IQW  words  the  whole  hiflory  of  the  campaign.  A  war 
inuiiftcr  :n  peace,  anil  a  peace  mi-;*rLv.r  in  war.  Brave  where  there 
13  nodangt",  and  prudent  when  there  is. 
..The  I'tfcript  could  be  noihing  elfc  than  an  explanation,  on  the 
l^rt  of  Fraiice,  cf  the  fimau^n  fhe  conceived  herfelf  to  be  fubjecl  to, 


PR0SPLCT3  ON  THE  RUBICON.  51 

and  the  probable  confeqiiences  xhut  m'.ght  follow  from  it.  TIus  flic 
was  not  obliged  to  make,  and  therefore  her  making  it  was  a  matter 
of  civil  communication  towards  a  power  {he  was  at  peace  with,  and 
which  in  return  entitled  her  to  a  nmilar  corumunication  on  the  part  of 
the  Britidi  cabi:;iet.  Ali  this  might  have  been  done  without  ciiher 
the  expence,  the  tumult,  the  provocadons,  or  the  ill  blood  that  has 
been  created. 

The  alliance  between  France  and  the  Dvitch,  vvas  fonned  v.hilc 
the  ftadtholder  was  a  part  of  the  government,  therefore  Franes 
could  not  from  that  alliance  take  a  part  either  for  or  againU  Liro. 
She  could  only  acl  when  the  whole  intereit  of  the  republic  was  ex- 
pofed  to  a  foreign  enemy,  and  it  was  act  cci-taia  that  this  might  not. 
be  the  cafe. 

The  rcfcript,  therefore,  infcead  of  being  taken  as  a  ground  for  war, 
was  in  itfelf  a  ground  for  peace,  becaufc  it  tended  to  bnng  on  a  dif- 
cufiion  of  all  the  circumilances  of  France  and  England  relative  to 
Holland,  v/hich  would  not  liave  failed  to  place  Holland  in  a  ftatc  of 
neutrality,  and  that  only  will  be  the  final  event  now;  becaufe,  inde- 
pendent of  all  parties,  no  other  is  coniillent  with  the  whole  national 
intereft  of  that  reDublic- 

But  this  not  being  done,  it  15  now  left  to  the  Dutch  to  do  it  for 
themfclvcs. 

An  alliance  with  England,  at  the  fame  time  there  is  one  exitling 
with  France,  will  fecure  this  neutrality  fo  ncceffaiy  to  the  Dutch 
republic.  By  this"fi:roke  of  politics  foe  will  be  free  from  all  obliga.- 
tions  to  jom  with  either  in  a  war,  and  be  guaranteed  by  botli.  Her 
alliance  with  England  will  dcb:.r  Eiigland  from  molefiiing  her  trade 
by  fea,  and  that  with  France  will  debar  France  from  the  fame  thing, 
and  like  wife  from  invading  her  by  hmd  in  all  future  cafes.  There 
are  fo  many  probable  circumilances  to  anfe  on  the  continent  of  Eu- 
rope, that  the  fituation  of  Holland  requires  this  fafeguard,  more  efpe- 
cially  from  France,  on  account  of  her  laud  conncdlion. 

The  rifmg  greatnefs  of  the  Rufiaan  empire,  the  probable  union 
of  this  empire  with  that  of  Germany  and  France,  and  confcquently 
with  Spain,  v/hofe  interells  cannot  be  feparated,  and  the  probabiirty 
of  a  rupture  between  the  emperor  and  the  king  of  Pruffa,  are  matters 
that  cannot  fail  to  imprefs  the  Dutch  with  the  neccffity  of  fecuring 
themfelves  by  land  as  will  as  by  fea,  and  to  prevent  their  bcin'r  drawn 
into  the  quarrels  either  of  England  or  France. 
Upon  the  whole,   as  th^re  was  a  civil  as  well  as  an  ucQ.vil  h'nc     of 


3^  ,      PAINE^s    WpRlv^. 

pcliticsto  be  p^irRied,  every  man  of  humane  and  gencicus  K-Rfimen^ 
jTiurc  larrsf-nt  it  was-  not  cliofen. 

A  (ilirpfition  for  ryQ-^cc  was  growing  up  in  every  part  of  France, 
zmi  t'>ere  appeared  at  the  fame  time  a  mutual  one  rifmg  in  England^ 
A  f>l<-""t  wifh  on  both  fides,  was  univcrfally  cxpandirg  itfe]f,  thajt 
wars,  fo  fatal  to  the  true  intereft  and  burden fome  by  taxes  tp  tbf^ 
fubje6^s  of  both  countries,  mig}it  exill  no  mere,  and  that  a  loBg  ^n^ 
hfting  peace  migkt  take  place. 

But  instead  of  cultivating  tuls  bappy  oppoirtunj-ty,  ibe  pettif^ 
vanity  of  a  young  and  unexperienced  minifler,  wbo  balanced  himfelf 
between  pe?.ceand  war  to  take  his  clioice  of  circui?i(l;ances,  inilead  of 
principles,  and  who  vrent  into  an  expenfive  arm.ament  wben  thcrf 
was  none  to  contend  v/ith,  and  not  till  rfter  the  aiTalrs  of  "Hplhu^ 
might  be-  faid  to  be  terminaxed,  has  delh-oyed  thofe  feeds  of  qarmon^r 
that  might  have  been  con5dercd  of  more  value  to  both  nations  thar? 
jheir  fleets  and  armies.  , 

He  has  permitted  tlie  nation  to  run  mad  under  the  uniycrfd  in- 
il.uence  of  a  groundlefs  belief  of  vait  hoftile  arnaarcents  in  the  Eai> 
and  Weil  Indies,  and  the  fuppofition  of  a  fecret  that  never  exified; 
By  this  means  the  fparks  cf  ill-will  are  afrefli  kindled  up  betwcerj 
Jhe  nations^  the  fair  prcfpecl  of  lailrng  peace  is  vani-fned,  and  a  train 
of  future  evils  fills  up  the  fccne,  and  that  at  a  time  when  the  in* 
teraal  aff^iirs  of  France,  however  confufed  they  at  prcfent  appear, 
are  naturally  approaching  to  a  great  and  harmonious  increafe  of  h^ 
power.  ■> 


TH0MA5  PAIN?. 


l  <^th  of  y^u^  vj!-,  .178". 


RIGHTS     OF     MAN 


15EING   AN 


ANSWER  TO  MR.  BURKE'S  ATTACK 


ON    THE 


FRENCH    REVOLUTION. 


By    THOMAS     PAINE,' 


S^CRKTjJRr     FOR     FOREIG.V    AFFAIRS     TO     CO^fGRESS    IV     THt 

AMEHICAN    TFARj 


AND 


AUTHOR     OF    THE    ITORK   ENTlTlEif 

"COMMON    SENS  E." 
Vol.  ir.  F 


GEORGE    WJSHINGIon, 

PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA 


SIR 


■r 


1  PRESENT  you  a  foiall  treatlfe  in  defence  of  tbofe  principles 
of  freedom  which  your  exemplary  virtue  hath  fo  eminently  con- 
tributed to  eftablifh.  That  the  Rights  of  Man  may  become  as 
univerfal  a&  your  benevolence  can  wifli,  and  that  you  may  enjoy 
the  happinefs  of  feeing  the  New  World  regenerate  the  Old,  is 
the  prayer  of 

SIR, 

Your  much  obliged,    and 

Obedient  humble  fervant, 

THOMAS  PAINE» 


e'tafJML^.^ig^atfj'i^Kit'^gA^earg'WtaiB^^ 


RIGHTS    OF    MAN. 


Xl-MONG  the  incivilities  by  which  nations  or  individuals  provoke 
and  irritate  each  other,  Mr.  Burke*s  pamphlet  on  the  French  Revo- 
lution is  an  extraordinary  inftance.  Neither  the  people  of  France, 
nor  the  National  Affembly,  were  troubling  themfeives  about  the  af- 
fairs of  England,  or  the  Engli(h  Parliament  ;  and  v/hy  Mr.  Burke 
fhould  commence  an  unprovoked  attack  upon  them,  both  in  parlia- 
ment and  in  public,  is  a  condud  that  cannot  be  pardoned  on  the 
fcore  of  manners,  nor  juftificd  on  that  of  policy. 

There  is  fcarcely  an  epllhet  of  abufe  to  be  found  in  the  EnglifH 
language,  with  which  Mr.  Burke  has  not  loaded  the  French  nation 
and  the  national  affembly.  Every  thing  which  rancour,  prejudice, 
ignorance  or  knowledge  could  fugged,  are  poured  forth  in  the  co- 
pious fury  of  near  four  hundred  pages.  In  the  ftrain  and  on  the 
plan  Mr.  Burke  was  writing,  he  might  have  wrote  on  to  as  many 
thoufands.  When  the  tongue  or  the  pen  is  let  loofe  in  a  phrenzy 
of  paflion,  it  is  the  man,  and  not  the  fubjed,  that  becomes  exhaufted. 

Hitherto  Mr.  Burke  has  been  miftaken  and  difappointed  in  the 
opinions  he  had  formed  on  the  affairs  of  France  ;  but  fuch  is  the  in;" 
gcnuity  of  his  hope  or  the  malignancy  of  his  defpair,  that  it  furnifhes 
him  with  new  pretences  to  go  on.  There  was  a  time  when  it  was 
impoflible  to  make  Mr.  Burke  believe  there  would  be  any  revolution 
in  France.  His  opinion  then  was,  that  the  French  had  neither  fpirit 
to  undertake  it,  nor  fortitude  to  fupport  it  ;  and  now  that  there  i* 
onf ,  he  feeks  an  efcape  by  condemning  it. 

Not  fufficiently  content  with  abufing  the  national  affembly,  a  grent 
part  of  his  work  is  taken  up  with  abufing  Dr.  Price  (one  of  tlie  bell- 
liearted  men  that  lives)  and  the  two  focieties  in  England  known  by 
t3\c  name  of  the  Revolution  and  the  Conflituticral  Societies* 


3^  P  A  1  N  E  *  s    WORKS* 

D\\  Price  had  preached  a  fcrmon  on  the  4th  of  November,  1789^, 
being  the  anniverfary  of  what  is  called  in  England  the  Revolution 
which  took  place  1688.  Mr.  Burke,  fpeaking  of  this  fermon,  fays, 
'*  'i'he  political  divine  proceeds  dogmatically  to  afi'ert,  tliat,  by  the 
"  principles  of  the  revolution,  the  people  of  England  have  acquired 
"  three  fundaiiiontal  rights  : 

**    I.  To  choofe  our  own  governors. 

*'   2.  To  cafluer  tliem  for  mifconducl. 

**  3.   To  frame  a  governnitnt  for  ourfelves.*' 

Dr.  Price  does  not  fay  that  the  right  to  do  thefe  things  exifls  in  thi^ 
%)V  in  that  pcrfori,  or  in  this  or  in  that  defcription  of  perfons,  but  that 
it  exills  in  the  <uflui£ — that  it  is  a  rioht  refident  in  the  nation. — Mr* 

o 

Burke,  on  the  contrary,  denies  that  fuch  a  right  exifls  in  the  nation, 
either  in  wi;ole  or  in  part,  or  that  it  exiils  any  where ;  and  what  is 
Itill  more  llrange  and  marvellous,  he  fays,  "  that  the  people  of  Eng- 
«'  land  utterly  difclaim  fuch  right,  and  that  they  will  refill  the  prac- 
**  tical  affertion  of  it  with  their  lives  and  fortunes."  That  men 
fhould  take  up  arms,  and  fpend  their  lives  and  fortunes,  not  to  main- 
tain their  rights,  but  to  maintain  they  have  nol  rights,  is  an  entire  new 
fpecies  of  difcovery,  and  luir-d  to  the  paradoxical  genius  of  Mr.. 
Burke. 

The  method  which  Mr.  Burke  takes  to  prove  that  the  people  of 
England  have  no  fuch  rights,  and  that  fuch  rights  do  not  now  exifl 
in  the  nation,  either  in  whole  or  in  part,  or  any  where  at  all,  is  of 
the  fame  marvellous  and  monilrous  kind  with  what  he  has  already  faid ; 
foi:  his  arguments  are,  that  the  perfons,  or  the  generation  of  perfons, 
in  whom  they  did  exift,  are  dead,  and  v.'ith  them  the  right  is  dead 
alfo.  To  prove  thi?,  he  quotes  a  declaration  made  by  parliament 
about  a  hundred  years  ago,  to  William  and  Mary,  in  thefe  words  : 
*'  The  lords  fpiritual  and  temporal,  and  commons,  do,  in  the  name 
•*  of  the  people  aforeiaid — (meaning  the  people  of  England  then 
**  living) — molt  humbly  and  faithfully  yi/^^m/V  themfelves,  their /j«Vj 
*•'  2i\K\poJieriryi  for  EVER.".  He  alfo  quotes  a  claufe  of  another 
a<:l  of  parliamentnnade  in  the  fame  reign,  the  terms  of  which,  he  fays, 
'*  bind  us — (meaning  the  people  of  tliat  day) — our  heirs  and  our 
**  P2l^"''^'yi  *-°  tl->^rn,  their  heirs  znd po/icrky,  to  the  end  of  time." 

Mr.  Burke  conceives  his  point  fufficiently  eftabliflied  by  producing 
thofe  claufes,  which  he  enforces  by  faying  that  they  exclude  the  right, 
«f  the  -nation  for  ever:   and  not  yet  content  with  making  fuch  decla- 
.rations,  repeated  over  and  over  again,  he  further  fays,   "  that  if  the 
**  people  of  England  poffcfTcd  fuch  a  right  before  the  revciutioni** 


RIGHTS     OF    M  A  ^l  39 

^whlch  he  acknowledges  to  have  been  the  cafe,  not  only  In  England, 
but  throughout  Europe^  at  an  early  period)  "  yet  that  the  Englifi 
**  nation  did,  at  the  time  of  the  revolution,  moft  folemnly  renounce 
*^  and  abdicate  it,  for  themfelves,  and  for  all  their  pojlerity  for 
<*  ever:' 

As  Mr.  Burke  occafionally  applies  the  polfon  drawn  from  his  hor- 
rid principles  (If  it  Is  not  a  profanation  to  call  them  by  the  name  of 
principles)  not  only  to  the  Englifh  nation,  but  to  the  French  revol«- 
tion  and  the-  national  affembly,  and  charges  that  auguil,  illuminated 
and  illuminating  body  of  men  with  the  epithet  G^ufurperSi  I  {h-^W^fans 
ceremonie,  place  another  fyilem  of  principles  In  oppofitlon  to  his. 

The  Englifh  parliament  of   1688  did  a  certain  thing,   which  for 
themfelvcs  and  their  conilltuents,  they  had  a  right  to  do,  and  which 
appeared  right  fhould  be  done;  but,  in  addition  to  this  right,  which 
they  pofTefled  by  delegation,  they  fet  up  another  right  hy  ajfumptiont 
that  of  binding  and  controlling  pollerity  to  the  end  of  time.     The 
cafe,  therefore,   divides  Itfelf  Into  two  parts  ;  the  right  which  they 
pofTefTed  by  delegation,   and  the  right  which  they  fct  up  by  afTurr.D- 
tlon.    The  firft  is  admitted ;  but  with  refpecl  to  the  fecond,  I  reply : — 
There  never  did,  there  never  will,  and  there  never  can  exifl  a  par- 
liament, or  any  defcrlptlon  of  men,  or  any  generation  of  men,  in  any 
country,  poiTeffed  of  the  right  or  the  power  of  binding  and  controlh'nj:^ 
pofterlty  to  the  "  end  of  time:'  or  of  commanding  for  ever  how  the 
world  fhall  be  governed,  or  who  fhall  govern  it  ;   And  therefore  all 
fuch  claufes,   afts  or  declarations,  by  which  the  makers  of  them  at- 
tempt to  do  what  they  have  neither  the  right  nor  the  power  to  do, 
nor  the  power  to  execute,  arc  In  themfelves  null  and  void. — Every 
age  and  generation  muft  be  as  free  to  a6l  for  itfelf,  in  all  (a'ts,  as  \he 
ages  and  generations  which  preceded  it.     The  vanity  and  prefump* 
tion  of  governing  beyond  the  grave.   Is  the  mod  ridiculous  and  info- 
lent  of  all  tyrannies.     Man  has  no  property  In  man ;  neither  has  any 
generation  a  property  In  the  generations  which  are  to  follow.     The 
parliament  or  the  people  of  1 688,  or  of  any  other  period,  had  no  more 
right  to  difpofe  of  the  people  of  the  prefent  day,  or  to  bind  or  to 
control  them  in  anyfhape  luhatever,  than  the  parliament  or  the  people 
of  the  prefent  day  have  to  difpofe  of,  bind  or  control  thofe  who  are 
to  live  a  hundred  or  a  thoufand  years  hence.      Every  generation  m 
and  muft  be  competent  to  all  the  purpofes  which  Its  occafions  require. 
It  Is  the  living,   and  not   the  dead,   that    are  to  be  accnmmodated. 
When  man  ceafesto  be,  his  power  and  his  v/ants  ceafe  with  hint ;  and 
having  no  longer  any  participation  in  the  concern^?  of  this  woild,  he 


40  P  A  r  N  E  '  s    W  O  R  K  S. 

has  no  longer  any  authority  in  diredling  who  fiiall  be  its  governors, 
or  now  its  government  fhall  be  organized,  or  how  adminiftered. 

I  am  not  contending  for,  nor  againfc,  any  form  of  government, 
nor  for  nor  againfl  any  party,  here  or  elfewhere.  That  which  a 
whole  nation  choofes  to  do,  it  has  a  right  to  do.  Mr.  Burke  fays, 
No,  Where  then  does  the  right  exift?  I  am  contending  for  the  right 
of  the /m/TOTj  andagainil  their  being  willed  away,  and  controlled  and 
contraded  for,  by  the  manufcript  affumed  authority  of  the  dead  ; 
and  Mr.  Burke  is  contending  for  the  authority  of  the  dead  over  the 
rights  and  freedom  of  the  living.  There  was  a  time  when  kings 
difpofed  of  their  crowns  by  will  upon  their  death-beds,  and  configned 
the  people,  like  beafts  of  the  field,  to  whatever  fucceflbr  they  ap- 
pointed. This  is  now  fo  exploded  29  fcarcely  to  be  remembered, 
and  fo  monftrous  as  hardly  to  be  believed  :  But  the  parliamentary 
claufes  upon  which  Mr. 'Burke  builds  his  political  church,  are  of  the 
fame  nature. 

The  laws  of  every  country  mull  be  analogous  to  fome  common 
principle.  In  England,  uo  parent  or  mailer,  nor  all  the  authority 
of  parliament,  omnipotent  as  it  has  called  itfelf,  can  bind,  or  control 
the  perfonal  freedom  even  of  an  individual  beyond  the  age  of  twenty- 
one  years  ;  On  wliat  ground  of  right  then  could  the  parliament  of 
]6S8,  or  any  other  parliament  bind  all  poUerity  for  ever, 

Thofe  who  have  quilted  the  world,  and  thofe  who  are  not  arrived 
yet  at  it,  are  as  remote  from  each  other  as  the  utmoil  llretch  of  mor- 
tal imagination  can  conceive:  What  pomble  obligation  then  can  exift 
between  them,  what  rule  or  principle  can  be  laid  down,  that  two  non- 
entities, the  one  out  of  exiilence,  and  the  other  not  in,  and  who  ne- 
ver can  meet  in  this  world,  that  the  one  Ihould  control  the  other  to 
the  end  of  time. 

In  England,  it  is  faid  that  money  cannot  be  taken  out  of  the  pock- 
ets of  the  people  without  their  confent :  But  who  authorized,  and  who 
could  authorize  the  parliam.ent  of  1608  to  control  and  take  away  the 
freedom  of  poilerity,  and  limit  and  confine  their  rights  of  a£ling  in 
certain  cafes  for  ever,  who  were  not  in  exiilence  to  give  or  v^'ithhold 
their  confent  ? 

.  A  greater  abfurdity  cannot  prefent  itfelf  to  the  underllanding  of 
man,  than  what  Mr.  Burke  offers  to  his  readers.  He  tells  them, 
and  he  tells  the  world  to  come,  that  a  certain  body  of  men  who  ex- 
ifted  an  hundred  years  ago,  made  a  law,  and  that  there  does  not  now 
exift  in  the  nation,  nor  never  will,  nor  never  can,  a  power  to  alter  it. 
Under  how  m.any  fubtleties,  or  abfmditiee,  has  tte  divine  tight  tp- 


RIGHTS    OF    MAN.  4<i 

govern  been  impofed  on  the  credulity  of  mankind  :  Mr.  Burke  has 
difcovcred  a  new  one,  and  he  has  fhortened  his  journey  to  Kome,  by 
appealing  to  the  power  of  this  infallible  pafliameift  of  former  days  ; 
and  he  produces  what  it  has  done,  as  of  divine  authority  :  for  that 
power  muit  certainly  be  more  than  human,  which  no  human  power 
to  the  end  of  time  can  alter. 

But  Mr.  Burke  has  done  fome  fervice,  not  to  his  caufe,  but  to  his 
country,  by  bringing-  thofe  claufes  into  public  view.  Tliey  (erve  to 
demonftrate  how  ncceffary  it  is  at  all  times  to  watch  againfl  the  at- 
tempted encroachment  of  power,  and  to  prevent  its  running  to  excefs. 
It  is  fomewhat  extraordinary,  that  the  offence  for  which  James  II. 
was  expelled,  that  of  fetting  up  power  by  ajfumptiony  faould  be  re- 
adied under  another  fhape  and  formi,  by  the  parliament  that  expelled 
him.  It  fhews,  that  the  rights  of  man  were  but  imperfectly  under*- 
ftood  at  the  revolution  ;  for  certain  it  is,  that  the  right  which  tbat 
parliament  fet  up  by  ajfmnpt'wn  (for  by  delegation  it  had  It  not,  and 
could  not  have  it,  becaufe  none  could  give  it)  over  the  perfon?  and 
freedom  of  poll^erity  for  ever,  was  of  the  fame  tyrannical  unfounded 
kind  which  James  attempted  to  fet  up  over  the  parliament  and  the 
nation,  and  for  which  he  was  expelled.  The  only  difference  is,  (for 
in  principle  they  differ  not)  that  the  one  was  an  ufurper  over  the 
living,  and  the  other  over  the  unborn  ;  and  as  the  one  has  no  better 
authority  to  ftand  upon  than  the  other,  both  of  them  mufl  be  equally 
null  and  void,  and  of  no  effe6l. 

From  what  or  from  whence,  does  Mr.  Burke  prove  tlie  right  of 
any  human  power  to  bind  poilerity  for  ever  ?  He  has  produced  his 
claufes ;  but  he  mufl  produce  alfo  his  proofs,  that  fuch  a  right  exifled, 
and  fhew  how  it  exifled.  If  It  ever  exifled,  it  mufl  now  exifl ;  for 
whatever  appertains  to  the  nature  of  man,  cannot  be  annihilated  by 
man.  It  is  the  nature  of  man  to  die,  and  he  will  continue  to  die  as 
long  as  he  continues  to  be  born.  But  Mr.  Burke  has  fet  up  a  fort 
of  political  Adam,  in  whom  all  poflerity  are  bound  for  ever  ;  he  mufl 
therefore  prove  that  his  Adam  poffcff^-d  fuch  a  power  or  fuch  a  rig!;t. 
The  weaker  any  cord  is,  the  lefs  will  it  bear  to  be  ftretched,  and 
the  worfe  is  the  policy  to  flretch  it,  unlefs  It  is  Intended  to  break  It. 
Had  a  perfon  contemplated  the  overthrow  of  Mr.  Burke's  pofitions, 
he  would  have  proceeded  as  Mr.  Burke  has  done.  He  would  have* 
magnified  the  authorities,  on  purpofe  to  have  called  the  ri^ht  of  them 
into  qnedion ;  and  the  inftant  the  queflion  of  right  was  flarted,  the 
^authorities  mufl  have  been  given  up. 

It  requires  but  a  verv  fmail  glance  of  thought    to  perceive,  that 
Vol.  H.  '  G 


^2  P  A  I  N  E  Vs    W  O  R  K  S; 

although  laws  made  in  one  generation  often  continue  in  force  through 
fucceeding  generations,  yet  that  they  continue  to  derive  their  force 
from  the  confent  of  the  living.  A  law  not  repealed  continues  in 
force,  not  becaufe  it  cannot  be  repealed,  but  becaufe  it  is  not  repealed; 
and  the  non -repealing  paiTes  for  confent. 

But  Mr.  Burke*s  cbufes  have  not  even  this  qualification  in  thel>> 
favour.  They  become  null,  by  attempting  to  become  immortal 
The  nature  of  them  precludes  confent.  They  deftroy  the  right 
which  they  rr':gkt  have,  by  grounding  it  on  a  right  which  they  can 
not  have.  Immortal  power  is  not  a  human  riglit,  and  therefore  can- 
not be  a  right  of  parliament.  The  parliament  of  i6S8  might  as  well 
have  paffed  an  aft  to  have  authoriied  themfelves  to  live  for  ever,  as  to 
make  their  authority  live  for  ever.  All  therefore  that  can  be  faid 
of  them  is,  that  tliey  are  a  formality  of  words,  of  as  much  import, 
as  if  thofe  who  uf;d  them  had  addrefied  a  congratulation  to  them- 
felves, and,  in  the  oriental  fcyle  of  antiquity,  had  faid,  O  parliament, 
live  for  ever  1 

The  circumfcances  of  the  world  are  continually  chaneino-,  and  the 
opinions  of  men  change  alfo  ;  and  as  government  is  for  the  living, 
and  not  for  the  dead,  it  is  the  living  only  that  has  any  right  in  It, 
Tiiat  which  may  be  thouglit  right  and  found  convenient  in  one  sgc, 
may  be  thought  wrong  and  found  inconvenient  in  another.  In  fuch 
cafes,  who  is  to  decide,   the  living,   or  the  dead  ? 

As  almoft  one  hundred  pages  of  Mr.  Burke's  bock  are  employed 
upon  thefe  claufes,  it  will  confequcntly  follov/,  that  if  the  claufes 
themfelves,  fo  far  as  they  fct  up  an  ajfumed^  ufurped  dominien  over 
poftenty  for  ever,  are  unauthoritative,  and  in  their  nature  null  and 
•void,  that  all  his  voluminous  inferences  and  declamation  drawn 
therefrom,  or  founded  thereon,  are  null  and  void  alio  :  and  on  thi* 
ground  I  reft  the  m.atler. 

We  now  come  m.ore  particularly  to  the  affairs  cf  France.  Mr. 
Burke's  book  has  the  appearance  of  being  written  as  inflru6lion  to 
the  French  nation;  but  if  I  may  perniit  myfclf  the  ufe  cf  an  extra- 
vagant mctaplior,  fuited  to  the  extravagance  of  the  cafe,  it  is  darknefs 
attem.pting  to  illuminate  light. 

While  1  am  writing  this,  there  is  accidentally  before  me  fcm.c 
propofals  for  a  declaration  of  rights  by  the  marquis  dc  la  Fa^^ette  (I 
ailc  his  pardon  for  uJi ng  his  former  addrefs,  and  do  it  only  fordiflinc- 
tion'sfake)  to  the  national  ufremWy  on  the  nth  of  July  17B9,  three 
days  before  the  taking  of  the  Baftile;  and  I  cannot  but  be  ftruck  how 
oppofite  the  fources  are  from  v/hich  that  gentleman  and  Mr.  Burke 


RIGHTS     OF    iM  A  N.  43 

draw  their  principles.  Inftead  of  referring  to  mufty  records  and 
mouldy  parchments,  to  prove  that  the  rights  of  the  living  are  loft, 
"  renounced  and  abdicated  for  ever"  by  thole  who  are  now  no  more, 
as  Mr.  Burke  has  done,  M.  de  la  Fayette  applicjs  to  the  living  world, 
and  emphatically  fayc,  *'  Call  to  mind  the  fcatimcats  which  nature 
**  has  engraved  in  the  heart  of  every  citizen,  and  which  take  a  new 
"  force  when  they  are  folemnly  recognized  by  all: — For  a  nation  to 
"  love  hberty,  it  is  fufficient  that  flie  kuovrs  it;  and  to  be  free,  it  is 
*<  fufficient  that  fhe  wills  it."  How  dry,  barren,  and  obfcure,  is  the 
fource  from  which  Mr.  Burke  labours;  and  how  ineffedua],  though 
gay  with  flowers,  are  all  his  declamation  and  his  argument,  compared 
with  thefe  clear,  concife,  and  foul-animating  fentiments  :  Few  and 
fhort  as  they  arc,  tliey  lead  on  to  a  vail:  Held  of  generous  and  manly 
thinking,  and  do  not  hniih,  like  Mr.  Burke's  periods,  wiili  muhc  in 
the  ear,  and  nothino;  in  the  heart. 

As  I  have  introduced  the  mention  of  M.  de  la  Fayette,  I  will  take 
the  liberty  of  adding  an  anecdote  rcfpefling  his  farewel  addrefs  to  the 
Congref»of  America  in  1783,  and  which  occurred  frefli  to  m.ymind 
when  I  faw  Mr.  Burke's  thunderinr-'-  attack  on  the  French  revolution. 
— M.  de  la  Fayette  wciit  to  America  at  an  early  period  of  the  war, 
and  continued  a  volunteer  in  her  fervice  to  the  end*       Flis  conduct 
throu'T-h  the  whole  of  that  enterorife  is  one  of  the  moil  extraordinary 
that  is  to  be  found  ia  the  hiilory  of  a  young  man,  fcaicely  then  twenty 
years  of  age.      Situated  in  a  ccuntiy  that  was  iiice  the  lap  of  fenfual 
pleafure,  and  with  the  ir.eans  of  enjoying  it,  how  few  are  there  to  be 
found  who  would  exchange  fuch  a  fcene  for  tlie  woods  and  vv'ildernefd 
of  America,  and  pafs  the  flowery  years  of  youth  in  uj^prohtable  dan- 
ger and  hardfhip!    But  fuch  is  the  iact.     \vhen  the  Vv'ar  ended,  and 
he  was  on  the  point  of  taking  his  final  d^^paiture,  he  prefented  him- 
felf  to  Congrefs,  and  contem.plating,  in  his  aiTeclionate  farewel,    the 
revolution  he  had  fee n,  exprelTed  himfelf  in  thefe  words:   ^^  May  i hit 
«•  great  monument  ra':ftfd  to  L'lhtriy^'fcr'-cs  as  a  Icjfon  to  the  otprcJ[or^  and 
^•"an  example  to  the  oppreJfcilP^      V/hen  this  addrefs  came  to  the  hands 
of  Doctor  Frankhn,  who  was  then  in  France,  he  applied  to  Count 
Vergennes  to  have  it  inferted  in  the  French  gazette,  but  never  could 
t)btaia  his  confent.     The  fa-£l  was,  that  Count  Vergennes  was  an  arif- 
tccratical  defpot  at  home,  and  dreaded  the  example  of  the  American 
revolution  in  Fxance,  as  certain  other  perfonsnow  dread  the  examnle 
of  the  French  revolution  in  England;  and  Mr.  Burke's  tribute  of  fear 
(for  in  this  light  his  book  mull  be  confidered)  runs  parallel  v/ith  Count 
Verg^ennes'  refufal.     But,  t«  return  more  particularly  to  his  work. 


4^  P  A  I  N  E  '  s    W  O  R  K  S. 

*'  We  have  feeu  (fays  Mr.  Burke)  the  French  rebel agtiin ft  a  miTd 
**  and  lawful  monarch,  with  more  fury,  outrage  and  infuk,  th^n  any 
**  people  has  been  known  to  rife  againil  the  moil  illegal  ufurper,  or 
'*  the  moPc  fanguinary  tyrant." — This  is  one  among  a  thoufand  other 
inilcsnces,  in  which  Mr.  Burke  fhews  that  he  is  i^rnorant  of  the  fprings 
and  principles  of  the  French  revolution. 

It  was  not  againft  Louis  the  XVIih,  but  ag?rnft  the  defpotic  prin^ 
ciples  of  the  government,  that  the  nation  revolted.  Thefe  principles 
had  not  their  origin  in  him,  but  in  the  original  eftcblifament,  many 
centuries  back ;  and  they  were  become  too  deeply  rooted  to  be  remov- 
ed, and  the  Augean  liable  of  parafites  and  plunderers  too  abominably 
filthy  to  be  cieaafed,  by  any  thing  fuort  of  a  complete  and  univerial 
revolution. 

Vv  hen  it  becomes  neceffary  to  do  a  thing,  the  v/hole  heart  and  foul 
fnould  go  into  the  meafure,  or  not  rittem]>t  it.  Tliat  crifis  was  then 
arrived,  aild  there  remained  no  clioicc  but  to  zdi  with  determined  vi- 
gour,, or  not  to  ad:  at  all.  I'he  Ling  v/as  known  to  be  the  friend  of 
the  nation,  and  this  clrciimflancc  was  favourable  to  the  enterprife. 
Perhaps  no  man  bred  up  in  the  nyle  of  an  abfolutc  king,  ever  pcfTef- 
fed  a  heart  fo  little  difpofed  to  the  exercife  of  that  fpecies  of  power 
as  the  prefent  king  of  France.  But  the  principles  of  the  govern- 
ment itfelf  iliU  remained  the  fame.  The  monarch  and  the  monarchy- 
were  diitinC^  and  feparatc  tilings;  and  it  was  againil;  the  eilablifned 
defpotifm  of  the  latter,  and  not  againil  the  perloii  or  principles  of  the 
former,  that  the  revolt  commenced,  and  the  revolution  has  been  car- 
ried. 

Mr.  Burke  does  not  attend  to  the  diftindlion  between  mfn  and/r/V* 
dpksf  and  therefore  he  does  not  fee  tliat  a  revolt  may  take  place  againil 
the  defpotifm  of  the  latter,  while  there  lies  no  charge  of  deipotifm 
aixaiall  the  former. 

The  natural  moderation  of  Louis  XVI.  contributed  nothing  to  alter 
the  hereditary  defpotifm  of  the  monarchy.  All  the  tyrannies  of  for- 
mer reigns,  adled  under  that  hereditary  defpotifm,  were  Hill  liabk<t<* 
be  revived  in  the  hands  of  a  fucceifor.  It  was  not  the  refpite  of  a 
reign  that  would  fatisfy  France,  enlightened  as  (he  was  then  become. 
A  cafual  difcontinuance  of  the/r^^i/V^  of  defpotifm,  is  not  a  difconti- 
nuance  of  its  principles;  the  former  depends  on  the  virtue  of  the  indi- 
vidual who  is  in  immediate  poffeffion  of  the  power;  the  latter,  on  the 
virtue  and  fortitude  of  the  nation.  In  the  cafe  of  Charles  I.  and 
James  II.  of  England,  the  revolt  was  againft  the  perfonal  defpotifm 
bf  the  men ;  whereas  in  France,  it  was  againft  the  hereditary  defpot*- 


RIGHTS     OF    MAN.  45 

iim  of  the  eftabllfiied  government.  But  men  who  can  confign  over 
the  rights  of  pofterity  for  ever  on  the  authority  of  a  mouldy  parch- 
ment, like  Mr.  Burke,  are  not  qualified  to  judge  of  this  revolution.  It 
takes  in  a  field  too  vaft  for  their  views  to  explore,  and  proceedo  v,itU 
a  mightinefsof  reafon  they  cannot  keep  pace  with. 

But  there  are  many  points  of  view  in  which  this  revolution  may  be 
coufidered.  When  defpotifm  has  ellabliPaed  itfelf  for  ages  in  a  coun- 
try, as  in  France,  it  is  not  in  the  perfon  of  the  king  only  th:it  it  re- 
ildes.  It  has  the  appearance  of  being  fo  in  fhovN',  and  in  nominal  au- 
thority;  but  it  is  not  fo  in  pratlice,  and  in  faft.  It  has  its  llandard 
every  where.  Every  office  and  department  has  its  defpotifm,  foanded 
npon  cullom  and  ufage.  Every  place  has  its  Baftiie,  and  ever}'  Baf- 
tile  Its  defpot.  The  original  hereditary  dvffpotifm  rcfident  in  the  per- 
fon of  the  king,  divides  and  fab-divides  itfelf  into  a  thcufand  fhanes  and 
forms,  till  at  lall  the  whole  of  it  is  acled  by  deputation.  This  was  tlte 
cafe  in  France;  and  againd  this  fpecies  of  defpotifm,  proceeding-  on' 
through  an  endlefs  labyrinth  of  olnce  till  the  fource  of  it  is  fcarcely 
perceptible,  there  is  no  mode  of  redrefs.  It  ftren^thens  itfelf  by  af- 
fuming  the  appearance  of  duty,  and  tyrannifes  under  tlie  pretence  of 
obeving. 

When  a  man  reiie£ls  on  the  condition  v/hich  France  was  in  from 
the  nature  of  her  government,  he  will  fee  other  caufes  for  revolt  than 
thofe  which  immediately  conne6t  themfelves  with  the  perfon  or  cha* 
lader  of  Louis  XVI.  There  were,  if  I  may  fo  exprefs  it,  a  thou- 
fand  defpotifms  to  be  reformed  in  France,  which  had  grown  up  under 
the  hereditaiy  defpotifm  of  the  monarchy,  and  becon:e  fo  rooted  as 
to  be  in  a  great  meafure  independent  of  it.  Between  the  monarchy, 
the  parliament,  and  the  church,  there  was  a  n^'^7/ySi/»  of  defpotifm; 
Befides  the  feudal  defpotifm  operating  locally,  and  the  miniilerial  def- 
potifm operating  every  where.  But  Mr.  Burke,  by  confidering  the 
king  as  the  only  pofTihle  objedl  of  a  revolt,  fpeaks  as  if  France  was  a 
village,  in  which  every  thing  that  pafTed  mull  be  known  to  its  cora- 
jnandlng  ofScer,  and  no  oppreffion  could  be  acted  but  what  he  could 
immediately  control.  Mr.  Burke  might  have  been  in  the  Baililc 
his  whole  life,  as  well  under  Louis  XVI.  as  Louis  XIV.  and  neither 
the  one  nor  the  other  known  that  fuch  a  man  as  Mr.  Burke  exiiled. 
The  defpotic  principles  of  the  government  were  the  fame  in  both 
reiti-ns,  though  the  difpolitions  of  the  men  were  as  remote  as  tyranny 
and  benevolence. 

V/hat  Mr.  Burke  confiders  as  a  reproach  to  the  French  revolution, 
tiiat  of  bringing  ii  forward  under  a  reign  more  mild  than  the  preced- 


46  P  A  I  N  E '  3    W  O  R  K  S. 

ing  oin^s,  is  one  of  its  highefl  honours.  The  revohitions  that  have 
taken  pisce  in  other  European  countries,  have  been  excited  by  per- 
fonal  hatred.  The  rage  was  againfl  the  man,  and  he  became  the  vic- 
tim. But,  in  the  inftance  of  Erance,  Vv-e  fee  a  revolution  generated 
in  the  rational  contemplation  of  the  rights  of  man,  and  dlllinguiihing 
from  the  beginning  between  perfona  and  principles. 

But  Mr.  Burke  appears  to  have  no  idea  of  principles  when  he  is 
«ontempiatixig  governments.  *•=  Ten  years  ago  (fays  he)  I  could 
**  have  felicitated  France  on  her  having  a  government,  without  cn- 
"  quiring  what  the  nature  of  that  government  was,  or  how  it  was 
*'  adminiftered."  Is  this  the  language  of  a  rational  man?  Is  it  the 
language  of  a  heart  feeling  as  it  ought  to  feel  for  the  rights  and  hap- 
pinefs  of  the  human  race?  On  this  ground,  Mr.  Burke  muil  com- 
pliment every  government  in  the  world,  while  the  victims  who  fuffer 
under  them,  whether  fold  into  flavery  or  tortured  out  of  cxiftencc, 
are  wholly  forgotten.  It  is  povvcr,  and  not  principles  that  Mr.  Burke 
venerates  ;  and  under  thh  abominable  depravity,  he  is  difquahiied  to 
judge  between  them. — Thus  much  for  his  opinion  as  to  the  occ^iions 
of  the  French  revclr.tion.      I  nov.^  proceed  to  other  confiderations. 

I  know  a  place  in  America  called  Foint-no-Foint;  becaufe  as  you 
proceed  along  the  Oicpe,  gay  and  flowery  as  Mr.  Burke's  language, 
it  continually  recedes  and  prefcHts  itfelf  at  a  dillance  a-head  ;  and  when 
you  have  got  as  far  as  you  can  go,  there  is  no  point  at  all.  Juf:  thus 
is  it  with  Mr.  Burke's  three  hundred  and  fifty-fix  pages.  It  is  there- 
fore dinicuk  to  reply  to  him.  But  as  the  points  that  he  willies  to 
cllablidi  may  be  inferred  from  what  he  abufes,  it  is  in  his  paradoxes 
that  we  maifc  lock  for  his  arGfumentP. 

As  to  the  tragic  paintings  by  which  Mr.  Burke  has  outraged  his 
own  imagination,  and  fecks  to  work  upon  that  of  his  readers,  they 
are  very  well  calculated  for  theatrical  reprefentation,  where  fa6ls  are 
manufactured  for  the  fake  of  fliow,  and  accommodated  to  produce, 
thro  ugh  the  weaknefs  of  fympathy,  a  weeping  effe6l.  But  Mr. 
Burke  fhould  recolledt  that  he  is  writing  hiiloiy,  and  net  plays  ;  and 
that  his  readers  will  expe6l  truth,  and  not  the  fpouting  rant  of  high- 
toned  exclamation. 

When  we  fee  a  man  dramatically  lamenting  in  a  publication  intend- 
ed to  be  believed,  that  "  The  age  of  chivalry  'is  gone ;  that  The  glory  of 
**  Europe  is  extingu'fleJ  for  ever!    tliat  The  unbought  grace  of  life   (if 
**  any  one  knows  what  it  is,)  the  cheap  defence  of  x.ations^  the  tiurfe  of 
*  manly  feniiment  and  heroic  enierprize  is  gone!"  and  all  this  becaufe 
the  Q^uix'jtte  a^e  of  chivalry  aonfenfe  is  ggne,  what  opiaioa  c«n  we 


RIGHT  S     O  F    MAN.  47 

form  of  }i:s  judgment,  or  what  regard  can  we  pay  to  his  fafls?  I« 
the  rhapfody  of  his  ima^^ination,  he  has  difcovered  a  world  of  wind- 
mills, and  his  forrows  are,  that  there  are  no  Quixottes  to  attack  them. 
But  if  the  age  of  aridocracy,  like  that  of  chivalry,  fhould  fall,  and 
they  had  originally  fome  connexion,  Mr.  Burke,  the  trumpeter  of 
the  order,  may  continue  his  parody  to  the  end,  and  finifh  with  ex- 
claiming— ^^  Othello's  occiipahon's  gone {'^ 

Notwithflanding  Mr.  Burke's  horrid  paintings,  when  the  French 
revolution  is  compared  with  that  of  other  countries,  the  afloniftiment 
will  be,  that  it  is  marked  with  fo  few  facrifices;  but  this  aftonifhment 
-will  ceafe  when  we  refleft  that  it  was  principles^  and  not  perfons,  that 
were  the  meditated  objecls  of  deftruclion.  The  mir.d  of  the  nation 
was  a£led  upon  by  a  higher  ftimulus  than  what  the  confideration  of 
perfons  could  infpire,  and  fought  a  higher  conqueft  than  could  be  pro- 
duced by  the  downfal  of  an  enemy.  Among  the  few  who  fell,  there 
do  not  appear  to  he  any  that  were  intentionally  fingled  Out.  They 
all  cf  them  had  their  fate  in  the  circumflances  of  the  moment,  and 
were  not  purfued  with  that  long,  cold-blooded,  unabated  revenge 
which  purfued  the  unfortunate  Scotch  in  the  affair  of  i  745". 

Through  the  whole  of  Mr.  Burke's  book  I  do  not  obferve  that  the, 
Baflile  is  mentioned  more  tlian  once,  and  that  with  a  kind  of  impli- 
cation as  if  he  were  forry  it  i?  pulled  down,  r.nd  wif.ied  it  were  built 
up  again.  "  We  have  rebuilt  Newgate  (fa^-s  he)  and  tenanted  the 
**  manfion  ;  and  we  have  prifons  almoft  as  faong  as  the  Baftile  for 
"  thofe  who  dare  to  libel  the  queens  of  France."*  As  to  v/hat  a 
madman,  like  the  perfon  called  lord  George  Gordon,  might  fay,  and 
to  whom  Newgate  is  rather  a  bedlam  than  a  prifon,  it  is  unworthy  a 
.rational  confideration.  It  was  a  madman  that  libelled — and  that  ifi 
fuflicient  apology  and  it  afforded  an  opportunity  for  confining  him., 
which  was  the  thing  that  was  widied  for:   Bat  certain  it  is  tiiat  Mr. 

*  Since  ivrlling  the  ahove,  tivo  other  places  occur  in  Mr.  BurWs  pariT- 
phktj  in  luh'ich  the  name  of  the  B.yTilc  is  mentioned  but  in  the  fame  man* 
ner.  In  the  one,  he  introduces  it  in  a  fort  of  oh/cure  quefiion,  and  cjhs, 
. — **  Will  any  minflers  ivho  nvu)  fr^ve  fuch  a  king  ivith  hut  a  decent  ap- 
pearance of  refpcd,  cordially  obey  the  orders  of  thofe  ivhom  but  the  other 
day,  in  his  name,  they  had  committed  to  the  Bafile?  "  In  tlie  other, 
the  taking  it  is  mentioned  as  implying  criminality  in  the  French  guards  nvh^ 
ajfijl-^d  in  demol'flnng  it. — "  T^hey  ha-ve  not  (fays  he)  forgot  the  taking 
the  king's  caflles  at  Paris'' — This  is  Mr.  Burke,  ivho  pretends  to.  write 
#7;  conjlitiitlonal  freedom. 


4«»  P  A  I  N  E  's    W  O  R  K  S. 

Burke,  who  does  not  call  himfelf  a  madman,  whatever  other  people- 
may  do,  has  libelled,  in  the  moft  unprovoked  manner,  and  in  the  grof- 
feft  1[lile  of  the  mofl  vulgar  abufe,  the  whole  reprefentative  authority" 
of  France;  and  yet  Mr.  Burke  takes  his  feat  in  the  Britifh  houfe  of 
commons !  From  his  violence  and  his  grief,  his  filence  on  Tome  points 
Rnd  his  exctfs  on  others,  it  is  difiicult  not  to  believe  that  Mr-  Burke 
is  forry,  extremely  forry,  that  arbitrary  power,  the  power  of  the  pope 
and  the  Bailile,  are  pulled  down. 

Not  one  glance  of  compafiion,  not  one  coramiferating  reflexion, 
that  I  can  find  throughout  his  book  has  he  bellowed  on  thofe  that 
lingered  out  the  moft  wretched  of  lives,  a  life  without  hope,  in  the 
mcft  miferable  of  prifons.  It  is  painful  to  behold  a  man  employing 
his  talents  to  corrupt  himfelf.  Nature  has  been  kinder  to  Mr.  Burke 
than  he  has  to  her.  He  is  not  affedled  by  the  reality  of  diftrcfs  touch- 
ing upon  his  heart,  but  by  the  fiiowy  refemblance  of  it  ftriking  his 
imagination.  He  pities  the  plumage,  but  forgets  the  dying  bird» 
Accuftom.ed  to  kifs  the  ariilocratical  hand  that  hath  purloined  him 
from  himfelf,  he  degenerates  into  a  compoiition  of  art,  and  the  genu- 
ine foul  of  nature  forfakes  him.  His  hero  or  his  heroine  muft  be  a 
tragedy-viftim.,  expiring  in  fliow,  and  not  the  real  prifoner  of  mifery, 
Aiding  into  death  in  the  filence  of  a  dungeon. 

As  Mr.  Burke  has  pafTed  over  the  whole  tranfaAion  of  the  Baflile 
(and  his  hlence  is  nothing  in  his  favour)  and  has  entertained  his  readers 
with  reflcclions  on  fuppofed  fads,  diftorted  into  real  falfehoods,  I  will 
give,  fince  he  has  not,  fome  account  of  the  circumftances  which  pre- 
ceded that  tranfadion.  They  will  ferve  to  fhew,  that  lefs  mifchicf 
©ould  fcarce  have  accompanied  fuch  an  event,  when  confidered  with 
the  treacherous  and  hoiliie  aggravations  of  the  enemies  of  the  revo- 
lution. 

The  mtnd  can  hardly  pifture  to  itfelf  a  more  tremendous  fcene  than, 
what  the  city  of  Fai-is  exhibited  at  the  time  of  taking  the  Baftile,  and 
for  two  days  before  and  after,  nor  conceive  the  poffibility  of  its  qui- 
eting fo  foon.  At  a  diftance,  this  tranfa<5lion  has  appeared  only  a?' 
an  a6l  of  heroifm,  ftanding  on  itfelf:  And  the  clofe  political  connec- 
tion it  had  with  the  revolution  is  loft  in  the  brilliancy  of  the  atchieve- 
ment.  But  we  are  to  confider  it  as  the  ftrength  of  the  parties,  brought 
man  to  man,  and  contending  for  the  iuuc.  The  Baftile  was  to  be  ei- 
ther the  prize  or  the  prifon  of  the  affailants.  The  downfal  of  it  in- 
cluded the  idea  of  the  downfal  of  defpotifm;  and  this  compounded 
image  was  become  as  figuratively  united  as  Buuyan's  Doubting  Caltle 
and  giant  Defpair.  " 


R  1  G  H  T  S     O  F    IvI  A  R  49 

The  national  afTembly,  before  and  at  the  time  of  taking  the  Baf- 
tile,  was  fitting  at  Veriailles,  twelve  miles  diftant  from  Paris.  About 
a  week  before  the  rifing  of  the  Parifians,  and  their  taking  the  Baftile, 
it  was  difcovered  that  a  plot  was  foiming,  at  the  head  of  whidi  was 
the  count  d'Artois,  the  king's  youngeft  brother,  for  demoliftiing  the 
national  afTembly,  feizing  its  members,  and  thereby  on. filing,  by  u 
coup  (le  main,  all  ho[>es  and  profpecls  of  forming  a  free  government. 
For  the  fake  of  humanity,  as  well  as  of  freedom,  it  is  well  this  plan 
•did  not  fucceed.  Examples  are  not  wanting  to  ihew  how  dreadfu'lv 
vin<li6livc  and  cruel  arc  all  old  governments,  wh^n  they  are  fuccefsful 
againft  what  they  call  a  revolt. 

This  plan  mud  have  been  fom.e  time  in  contemplation;  becaufe  in 
order  to  carry  it  into  execution,  it  was  necefiary  to  collt6l  a  large 
military  force  round  Paris,  and  to  cut  off  the  comniunication  between 
that  city  and  the  national  aflTembly  at  Vcrfuilles.  The  troops  d ell ined 
jbr  this  fervice  were  chiefly  the  foreign  troops  in  the  pay  of  France, 
and  who,  for  this  particuiai*  ])urpofe,  Vvere  drawn  from  the  diilant 
provinces  where  they  were  then  ftationed.  "When  they  were  col- 
lefled^  to  the  amount  of  between  tweaty-five  and  thirty  thoufand,  it 
vv'as  judged  time  to  put  the  plan  in  execution.  The  miniflry  \/ho 
Avere  then  in  office,  and  who  were  friendly  to  the  revolution,  were  in 
flantly  difmiffed,  and  a  new  miniftry  formed  of  thofe  which  had 
concerted  the  project : — among  whoin  was  count  de  Broglio,  and 
to  his  fliare  was  given  the  command  of  thofe  troops.  The  charad:er, 
of  this  man,  as  defcribed  to  me  in  a  letter  which  1  communicated  to 
Mr.  Burke  before  he  began  to  v.-rile  his  bt)ok,  and  from  an  autho- 
rity which  Mr.  Burke  well  knows  was  good,  was  that  of  '*  an  high- 
**  flying  ariflocrat,   cool,   and  capable  of  every  mifchief,'* 

While  thefe  matters  were  agitating,  the  national  afTembly  tlood  in 
the  mofl  perilous  and  critical  fituation  that  a  body  of  men  can  be 
Inppofed  to  a6l  in.  They  were  the  devoted  viclims,  and  they  knew 
it.  They  had  the  hearts  and  wiflies  of  their  country  on  their  fide, 
but  military  authority  they  had  none.  I'he  guards  of  Brogho  fur- 
vounded  the  hall  where  the  afTembly  fat,  ready,  at  the  word  of  com- 
mand, to  feize  their  perfons,  as  had  been  done  the  year  before  to  the 
])arliament  in  Paris.  Had  the  national  afTembly  deferted  their  trull:, 
or  had  they  exhibited  figns  of  weaknefs  04*  lear,  their  enemies  had 
iieen  encouraged,  and,  the  countiy  dcpiclTed.  Av'hen  the  fituation 
they  flood  in,  the  caufe  they  were  engaged  in,  and  the  crifis  then 
ready  to  burfl  which  fliould  determine  their  perfonal  and  political 
fate,  and  that  of  their  countr^',  and  probably  of  Fuiope,  arc  taken 
Voull.  '     II 


JO  PAIN  E's     W  O  R  K  S. 

into  one  view,  none  but  a  heart  callous  with  prejudice,  or  corrupted 
by  dependance,  can  avoid  interefting  itfelf  in  their  fuccefs. 

The  archbifliop  of  Vienne  was  at  this  time  prefident  of  the  national 
airembly ;  a  perfon  too  old  to  undergo  the  fcene  that  a  few  days,  or 
a  few  hours,  might  bring  forth.  A  man  of  more  activity,  and  bolder 
fortitude,  was  neceffary;  and  the  national  affembly  chofe  (under  the 
fjrm  of  vice-prefident,  for  the  prefidency  ftill  refided  in  the  arch- 
b'Tnop)  M.  de  la  Fayette;  and  this  is  the  only  inflance  of  a  vice- 
prsfident  being  chofen.  It  was  at  the  moment  that  this  dorm  was 
pending  (July  1 1)  that  a  declaration  of  rights  was  brought  forward 
by  M.  de  la  Fayette,  and  is  the  fame  which  is  alluded  to  in  page 
42.  It  was  hailily  drawn  up,  and  makes  only  a  part  of  a  more  ex- 
tenlive  declaration  of  rights,  agreed,  upon  and  adopted  afterwards  by 
the  national  alTembly.  The  particular  reafon  for  bringing  it  forward 
at  this  moment  (M.  de  la  Fayette  has  fmce  informed  me)  was,  that 
if  the  national  affembly  (hould  fall  in  the  threatened  deflrud.ion  that 
then  furroundv.:d  it,  feme  traces  of  its  principles  might  have  the  chance 
of  furviving  the  VvTCck. 

Every  thing  now  was  drawing  to  a  crifis.  The  event  was  free- 
dom or  flavery.  On  one  fide  an  army  of  nearly  thirty  thoufand  men ; 
Oil  the  other  an  unarmed  body  of  citizens,  for  the  citizens  of  Paris  on 
whom  the  national  affembly  muft  then  immediately  depend,  were  as 
unarm^dand  as  undifciplined  as  the  citizens  of  London  are  now. — The 
French  gaards  had  given  ftrong  fymptons  of  their  being  attached  to 
the  national  caufe  j  but  their  numbers  were  fmall,  not  a  tenth  part  of 
the  force  that  Broglio  commanded,  and  their  officers  were  in  theinte- 
refl  of  Broglio. 

Matters  being  now  ripe  for  execution,  the  nev/  miniflry  made 
their  appearance  in  office.  The  reader  will  carry  In  his  mind,  that 
the  Baftile  was  taken  the  14th  of  July:  the  point  of  time  I  am  now 
fpeaking  to,  is  the  I2th.  Immediately  on  the  news  of  the  change 
of  the  miniflry  reaching  Paris  in  the  afternoon,  all  the  play-honfes 
and  places  of  entertainment,  fliops  and  houfes,  were  fluit  up.  The 
change  of  miniftry  was  confidered  as  the  prelude  of  hoflilities,  and 
the  opinion  was  riglitly  founded. 

The  foreign  troops  began  to  advance  twards  the  city.  The  prince 
de  Lambefc,  who  commanded  a  body  of  German  cavalry,  approached 
by  the  palace  of  Lewis  XV.  which  conneds  itfelf  with  feme  of  the 
ilreets.  In  his  march  he  infulted  and  ftruck  an  old  man  with  his 
fwovd.  The  French  are  rem.arkable  for  their  refpeft  to  old  age, 
and  the  infolence  "with  which  it  appeared  to  be  done,  uniting  with  the 


RIGHTS     O  F    M  AN.  51 

general  fermentation  they  v/ere  in,  produced  a  powerful  effect  and 
a  cry  of /o  arms!  lo  arms!  fpread  itfclf  in  a  moment  over  the  whole 
city. 

Arms  they  had  none,  nor  fcarcely  any  vvlio  knew  the  ufe  of  them ; 
but  defperate  refolution,  when  every  hope  is  at  ftake,  fupplies,  for  a 
while,  the  want  of  arms.  Near  where  the  prince  de  Lambefc  was 
drawn  up,  were  large  piles  of  flones  collected  for  building  the  new 
bridge,  and  with  thefe  the  people  attacked  tlie  cavalry.  A  party 
of  the  French  guards,  upon  hearing  the  firing,  rufiied  from  their 
quarters  and  joined  the  people  :  and  night  com.ing  on  the  cavalry 
retreated. 

The  ftrects  of  Paris,  being  narrow,  are  favourable  for  defence  ; 
and  the  loftinefs  cf  the  houfes,  confiiling  of  many  ftories,  from  whicli 
great  annoyance  might  be  given,  fecurcd  them  againft  ncAurnal  enter- 
prifes  ;  and  the  night  was  fpent  in  providing  themfelves  with  every 
fort  of  weapon  they  could  make  or  procure  :  guns,  fwords,  black- 
fmiths'  hamm.ers,  carpenters'  axes,  iron  crovrs,  pikes,  halberts,  pitch- 
forks, fpits,  clubs,   &:c.   iSrc. 

The  incredible  numbers  with  v.'hich  they  alTeinbled  the  next  morn- 
ing, and  the  Hill  more  incredible  refolution  they  exhibited,  em.bar- 
raffed  and  aftonifhed  their  enemies.  Little  did  the  new  miniftry 
exped  fuch  a  falute.  Accuftomed  to  flavery  themfelves,  they  had 
no  idea  that  liberty  was  capable  of  fuch  infpiration,  or  that  a  body  of 
unarmed  citizens  would  dare  to  face  the  militaiy  force  of  thirty 
thoufand  men.  Every  moment  of  this  day  v/as  employed  in  col- 
lecting arms,  concerting  plans,  and  arranging  themfelves  in  the  bell 
order  which  fuch  an  inftantaneous  movement  could  afford.  Broglio 
continued  lying  round  the  city,  but  made  no  farther  advances  this 
day,  and  the  fucceeding  night  pafTed  with  as  much  tranquility  as  fuch 
a  fcene  could  poffibly  produce. 

But  defence  only  was  not  the  objeft  of  the  citizens.  They  had  a 
caufe  at  (lake,  on  which  depended  their  freedom  or  their  flaven-. 
They  every  moment  expected  an  attack,  or  to  hear  of  one  made  on 
the  national  afiembly  ;  and  in  fuch  a  fituation,  the  moll  prompt  mea- 
sures are  fometimes  the  belL  The  obje^l  that  nowprefented  itfelf, 
was  the  Baftile ;  and  the  eclat  of  can-ying  fuch  a  fortrefs  in  the  face 
of  fuch  an  army,  could  not  fail  to  llrike  a  terror  into  the  new  mini- 
ftry, who  had  fcarcely  yet  had  tim.e  to  meet.  By  fome  intercepted 
correfpondence  this  morning,  it  was  difcovered,  that  the  mayor  of 
Paris,  M.  De  Fleflelleo^  who  appeared  to  be  in  their  intereil,  was  be- 
traying them;  and  from  this  difcovery,  there  remained  no  doub^t  that 


si  P  A  I  N  E  '  s     Vv^  O  R  IC  S. 

I3roglio  would  reinforce  the  Baflile  the  enfuing  evening.  It  was- 
therefore  neceflliry  to  attack  it  that  day  ;  but  before  this  could  be 
done,  it  was  firlt  necefTary  to  procure  a  better  fupply  of  arms  thait 
they  were  then  poffefTed  of. 

There  was  adjoininnr  to  the  c;Tv,  a  !irge  magazme  of  arms  depo- 
f' ted  at  the  hofpital  of  the  invah'ds,  which  the  citizens  fummoned  to 
Jurrender ;  and  as  the  placf  was  not  defenfible,  nor  attempted  mucli  de- 
fence, they  foon  fucceeded.  Thus  fapplicd,  the)'  marched  to  attack 
the  Baftile  ;  a  vail  mixed  multitude  of  all  ages,  and  of  all  degrees, 
and  armed  with  all  forts  of  wear>ons.  Imagination  would  fail  io 
defcribing  to  itfelf  the  appearance  of  fuch  a  proceflion,  and  of  the 
anxiety  for  the  events  which  a  few  hours  or  a  few  minutes  might 
])roduce.  What  plans  the  miniftry  was  forming,  were  as  unknown 
to  the  people  vrithin  the  city,  as  what  the  citizens  were  doing  wa* 
imknown  to  them  ;  and  vlrat  movements  Broglio  might  make  for 
the  fipport  or  relief  of  the  p;ace,  were  to  the  citizens  equally  as 
unknou'n.     All  was  myflery  and  hazard. 

That  the  Baftile  was  attacked  v/ith  an  enthuHafm  of  heroifirr, 
fich  only  as  the  higheil  animation  of  liberty  could  infpire,  and  car- 
ried in  the  fpace  of  a  few  liours,  is  an  event  which  the  world  is  fully 
poffefTed  of.  I  am  not  undertaking  a  detail  of  the  attack,  but 
bringing  into  view  the  confpiracy  againfl  the  nation  which  provoked 
it,  and  which  fell  -with  the  B^f^rle.  The  prifon  to  which  the  new 
minidry  were  dooming  the  national  afTcmblv,  ia  addition  to  its  being 
the  high  altar  and  caflle  of  d'^fpotifm,  became  the  proper  objeA  to 
begin  with.  This  enterprife  broke  up  the  new  miniflry,  who  beran 
^?ow  to  fly  from  the  ruin  they  had  prepared  for  others.  The  troop* 
cf  Broglio  difperfed,  and  himrelf  fied  alfo. 

Mr.  Burke  lias  fpoken  a  great  deal  about  plots,  but  he  ha?  never 
once  fpoken  of  this  plf)t  againfl  the  national  affembly,  and  the  liber- 
tics  of  the  natioii  ;  and  that  he  might  not,  he  has  pafTed  over  all  tlic 
circumflances  that  might  throw  it  in  his  way.  The  exiles  who  have 
f^ed  from  France,  whofe  caufe  he  fo  much  interef^s  himfelf  in,  and 
from  whom  he  has  had  his  lefTon,  fled  in  confequeuce  of  the  mifcar- 
riage  of  this  plot.  No  plot  was  formed  againfl  them  :  It  was  they; 
who  were  plotting  againfl  others  ;  and  thbfe  who  fell,  met,  not  uu- 
j  ifllv,  the  punifiiment  they  were  preparing  to  execute.  But  will 
Mr.  Burke  fiy,  that  if  this  plot,  contrived  with  the  fubtlety  of  ar* 
ambufcadc,  had  fucceeded,  tlie  fuccefsful  party  would  have  reflrained 
their  wrath  fo  foon  ?  Let  the  hillory  of  all  old  governments  anfwer 
ihe    queflioR. 


RIGHTS     OF    MAN.  53 

.    Whom  lias  the  national  aiTembly  brought  to  the  fcafibld  ?    None. 
T'ley   were   themfelves  the  devoted  vlftims  of  this   plot,    and   they 
have  not  retaliated  ;   v.-hy  then  are  they  charged  with  revenge  they 
!iave  not  ailed  ?     In  the  tremendous  breaking  forth  of  a  whole  peo- 
j)i ;,  in  which  all  degrees,  tempers  and  charaders  are  confounded,  and 
delivering  themfelves,  by  a  miracle  of  exertion,  from  the  deftru6lion 
meditated  againil  them,   is  it  to   be  expefted  that  nothing  will  hap- 
pen ?     When  men  are  fore  with  the  fenfe  of  opprellions,   and  me- 
naced with  the  profpeft  of  new  ones,   is  the  calmnefs  of  philofophy, 
cr  the  palfy  of  infeniibility  to  be  looked  for  ?     Mr.  Burke  exclaims 
againil  outrage  ;     yet  the  grcateft  is  that  which  he  has  committed. 
His  feook  is  a  volume  of  outrage,  not  apologized  for  by  the  impulfe 
of  a  moment,  but  cherifhed  through  a  fpace  of  ten  months  ;  yet  Mr. 
Burke  had  no  provocation,  no  life,  no  interefl  at  flake. 

More  citizens  fell  in  this  llruggle  than  of  their  opponents  ;  but 
four  or  five  pcrfons  were  feized  by  the  populace,  and  inflantly  put 
to  death  ;  the  governor  of  the  Baftile,  and  the  mayor  of  Paris, 
^vlio  was  dctefled  in  the  a<!vl  of  betraying  them  ;  and  afterwards 
Foulon,  one  of  the  new  miniilr}'-,  and  Berthier,  his  fon-in-law,  who 
}iad  accepted  the  office  of  intendant  of  Paris.  Their  heads  were 
ftuck  upon  fpikes,  and  carried  about  the  city  ;  and  it  is  upon  this 
mode  of  punifhment  that  Mr.  Burke  builds  a  great  part  of  his  tra- 
gic fcenes.  Let  us  therefore  examine  how  men  came  by  the  idea  of 
puniiliing  in  this  manner. 

Tliey  learn  it  from  the  governments  they  live  under  ;  and  reta- 
liate the  punilhments  they  hare  been  accullomcd  to  behold.  The 
heads  fluck  upon  fpikes,  which  remained  for  years  upon  Temple-bar, 
\diuered  nothing  in  the  horror  of  the  fcene  from  thofe  carried  about 
G!i  fpikes  at  Paris  :  Yet  this  was  done  by  the  EngliiTi  government. 
It  may  perhaps  be  faid,  that  it  fignifies  nothing  to  a  man  what  19 
done  to  him  after  he  is  dead  ;  but  It  fignifies  much  to  the  living  : 
It  either  tortures  their  feelings,  or  hardens  their  hearts  ;  and  in 
either  cafe,  it  inflructs  them  how  to  puniPn  when  power  falls  into 
their  handf;. 

Loy  then  the  axe  to  the  root,  and  teach  govemments  humanity. 
It  is  their  fanguinary  punifliments  which  corrupt  mankind.  In  Enrj- 
land,  the  punifhment  in  certain  cafes,  is  by  Lang'tng,  ttra'zoing  and 
quartering  ;  the  heart  of  the  fufFcrer  (s  cut  out,  and  held  w^  \,o  tlie 
view  of  the  populace.  In  France  under  the  former  government, 
the  punifliments  were  not  Icfs  barbarous.  Who  does  not  remember 
the  execution  of  D.imien,  torn  to  pieces  by  horfe?  ?   The  effeft  o£ 


54  P  A  I  N  E  '  s     W  O  R  K  S. 

tliofe  cruel  fpeciacles  exhibited  to  the  populace,  is  to  dcftroy  tender- 
iiefs,  or  excite  revenge ;  and  by  tlie  bafe  and  falfe  idea  of  sfovcrning 
ir.en  by  terror,  inJlead  of  reafon,  they  become  precedents.  It  is  over 
the  loweft  clafs  of  jnankind  that  government  by  terror  is  intended 
to  operate,  and  it  is  on  them  that  it  operates  to  the  worfl  effeft. 
They  have  fenfc  enough  to  feel  they  are  the  objedls  aimed  at  ;  and 
they  inflidl  in  their  turn  the  examples  of  terror  they  have  been  in- 
Ilruc^ed  to  praclife. 

There  are  in  all  European  coiintriey,  a  large  clafs  of  people  of  that 
defcription  which  in  England  are  called  the  "  mc^."    Of  this  clafs  Vv-cre 
thofe  who   committed  the   burninsrs  and  devaftations  in  London  in 
I  7 So,  and  of  this  clafs  were  thofe  who  carried  the  heads  upon  fpikes 
in  Paris.     Foulon  and  Berthier  were  taken  .up  in  the  country,   and 
fent  to  Paris,   to  undergo  their  examination  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville  ; 
for  the  national  afiembly,   immediately  on  the  new  miniftry  coming 
into  oflice,   palfed  a  decree,  wiiich  they  communicated  to  the  king 
and  cabinet,  that  they  (the  national  aiTembly)  w^ould  hold  the  mini-  . 
flry,  of  v/nich  Foulon  v/as  one,  refponfible  for  the  meafures  they  were 
advifing  and  purfuing ;  but  the  mob,  incenfed  at  the  appearance  cf 
Foulon  and  Berthier,  tore  them,  from   their  conduftcrs  before  they 
v>'ere  carried  to  the  Hotel  de  Ville,   and  executed  them  on  the  fpot. 
Vvhy  then  does  Mr.  Burke  charge  outrages  of  this  kind  on  a  whole 
people  ?   -As  well  may  he  charge  tlie  riots  and  outrages  of   1780  on 
all  the  people  cf  London,  or  thofe  in  Ireland  on  all  his  country. 

But  every  thing  we  fee  or  hear  cfTeniive  to  our  feelings,  and  dero- 
gatory to  tl;e  human  charaftcr,  fiiould  lead  to  other  reflexions. than 
thofe  of  reproach.  Even  the  beings  W'ho  com.mjt  them  have  fome 
claim  to  our  conlldtration.  Kovn'  then  is  it  that  fuch  vail  clafies  of 
mankind  as  are  dillinguifncd  bf  the  appellation  of  the  vulgar,  or  the 
ignorant  m.ob,  arc  fo  num.erous  in  all  old  countries?  The  inilant  we 
afic  ourfelvcs  this  qucil.ion,  refleition  feels  an  anfwer.  They  arife, 
ar>  an  unavoidable  confcquence,  out  cf  the  ill  ccnilru^Lion  of  all  the 
old  gcvernm.ents  in  Europe,  England  included  with  the  reft.  It  is 
by  diftorledly  exalting  fom,e  m.en,  that  others  are  diilortedly  debafed, 
till  the  whole  is  out  of  r.aturc.  A  vail:  m.afs  of  m.ankind  are  degradedly 
thrcw\n  into  the  back-ground  of  the  hum.an  pidure,  to  bring  forward, 
wich  greater  glare,  the  puppet  fiicw  of  ftate  and  arillocracy.  In  the 
ccn.mencemcr.t  of  a  levclution,  thofe  men  are  rather  the  followers 
of  the  ca-n^p  than  ci  inQ  fuim/ar^  of  liberty,  and  have  yet  to  be  in- 
ftru£ltd  how  to  reverence  it. 

I  give  to  Mr.  Burke  all  his  theatrical  exaggerations  for  fads,  and 


R  I  G  H  T  S     O  F    M  A  N.  ss 

I  then  aflc  him,  if  tliey  do  not  efi-abliui  the  certainty  of  what  I  here 
lay  down  ?  Admitting  them  to  be  true,  they  fiievv  the  necelTity  of 
the  French  revolution,  as  much  as  any  one  thing  he  could  have  af- 
ferted.  Thefe  outrages  were  not  the  efteft  of  the  principles  of  the 
revolution,  but  of  the  degraded  mind  that  exifted  befoie  the  revolu- 
tion, and  which  the  revolution  is  calculated  to  reform.  Place  theni 
then  to  their  proper  caufe,  and  take  the  reproach  of  them  to  your 
own  fide. 

It  is  to  the  honour  of  the  national  affembly,  and  the  city  of  Paris, 
that  during  fuch  a  tremendous  fcene  of  arms  and  confufion,  beyond  ■ 
the  control  of  all  authority,  that  they  have  been  able,  by  the  influence 
of  example  and  exhortation,  to  reilrain  fo  much.  Never  were  more 
pains  taken  to  inftruft  and  enlighten  mankind,  and  to  make  them  fee 
that  their  intereft  confifled  in  their  virtue,  and  not  in  their  revenge,  ; 
than  what  have  been  difplayed  in  the  revolution  of  France. — I  now 
proceed  to  make  fome  remarks  on  Mr  Burke's  account  of  the  expe- 
dition to  Vcrfailles,  06lober  5th  and  6th. 

I  cannot  confider  Mr.  Burke's  book  in  fcarcely  any  other  h'ght 
than  a  dramatic  performance;  and  he  mull,  I  think,  have  confidered 
it  in  the  fame  light  himfelf,  by  the  poetical  liberties  he  has  taken 
of  omitting  fome  fa6ts,  diftorting  others,  and  making  the  whole  ma- 
chinery bend  to  produce  a  llage  effe6l.  Of  this  kind  is  his  account 
of  the  expedition  to  Verfailies,  He  begins  this  account  by  omitting 
the  only  fa<5ls  vv^hich  as  caufes  are  known  to  be  true  ;  every  tiling 
beyond  thefe  is  conje6lure  even  in  Paris:  and  he  then  works  up  a  tale 
accommodated  to  his  own  paffions  and  prejudices. 

It  is  to  be  obferved  throughout  Mr.  Burke's  book,  that  he  never 
fpeaks  of  plots  aga'mjl  the  revolution  ;  and  it  is  from  thofe  plots  that 
all  the  mifchiefs  have  arifen.  It  fuits  his  purpofe  to  exhibit  the  con- 
fequences  without  their  caufes.  It  is  one  of  the  arts  of  the  drama  to 
do  fo.  If  tlie  crimes  of  men  were  exhibited  with  their  fuffering,  tlic 
ftage  effedl  would  fometimes  be  loft,  and  the  audience  would  be 
inclined  to  approve  where  it  was  intended  they  fiiould  commiferate. 

After  all  the  invelligations  that  have  been  made  into  this  intricate 
affair  (the  expedition  to  Verfailies),  it  ftill  remains  enveloped  in  all 
that  kind  of  myftery  which  ever  accompanies  events  produced  more 
from  a  concurrence  of  aukward  circumftances,  than  from  fixed  dc- 
fign.  While  the  charafters  of  men  are  forming,  as  is  ahvays  the  cafe 
in  revolutions,  there  is  a  reciprocal  fufpicion,  and  a  difpLifition  to  mif- 
interpret  each  other;  and  even  parties  directly  oppofite  in  principle, 
will  fometimes  concur  in  pufliing  forward  the  fame  mcvement  wiili 


56  P  A  I  N  E  '  s     W  O  R  K  S. 

very  differerit  views,  and  with  the  hopes  of  its  producing  very  di^ffer'- 
cnt  confequences.  A  great  deal  of  this  may  be  difcovered  in  this 
cmbarraflcd  affair,  and  yet  the  iiTae  of  the  whole  was  w  hat  nobody 
had  in  view. 

.  The  only  thin;^s  certainly  known  are,  that  conf.derable  uneafinefs 
was  at  this  time  excited  at  Paris,  by  the  delay  of  the  king  in  not 
lanclioning  and  forwarding  the  decrees  of  the  national  afiembly,  par- 
ticularly that  of  the  declaration  cfthe  rights  cf  man,  and  the  decrees  of 
the  fourth  of  Augujl,  which  contained  the  foundation  principles  on 
vvhich  the  conflitution  was  to  be  treded.  The  kindtil,  and  perhaps 
the  fairell,  conjecture  upon  this  matter  is,  that  fome  cf  the  minfllers 
intended  to  make  remarks  and  obfervations  upon  certain  parts  of  them, 
before  they  w'cre  finally  fan61ioned  and  fent  to  the  provinces;  but  be 
this  as  it  may,  the  enemies  of  the  revolution  derived  hopes  from  the 
delay,  and  the  friends  of  the  revolution,  imeaHuefs. 

During  tliis  flate  of  fufpence,  \}i\& gardes  du  corps,  which  was  ccm- 
pofed,  as  fuch  regiments  generally  are,  of  perfons  much  connected 
with  the  court,  gave  an  cntertainmiCnt  at  Verfailies  [Odi.  i,)  to  fome 
foreign  regiments  then  arrived  ;  and  when  the  entertainment  w^as  at 
tlie  heiglit,  on  a  fignal  given,  the  gardes  du  corps  tore  the  national 
cockade  from  their  hats,  trampled  it  under  foot,  and  replaced  it  with 
u  counter  cockade  prepared  for  the  purpofe.  An  indignity  of  this 
Ivind  amounted  to  defiance;  It  was  like  declaring  war;  and  if  men 
\;ill  give  cliallenge?,  they  mud  expecl  corifequences.  But  all  this 
Ivlr.  Burke  has  carefully  kept  out  of  fight.  He  begins  his  account 
by  faying,  *'  Hiilory  will  record,  that  on  the  morning  of  the  6lh  of 
**  Odober  I  789,  the  king  and  queen  of  France,  after  a  day  of  con- 
**  fufion,  alarm,  dilmay,  and  {laughter,  lay  down  under  the  pledged 
**  fecurity  of  pubhc  faith,  to  indulge  nature  in  a  few  hours  of  refpite, 
**  and  troubled  melancholy  repofe.'*  This  is  neither  the  feber  llyje 
of  hiftory,  nor  the  intention  of  it.  It  leaves  every  thing  to  be  gueffed 
at,  and  miftaken.  One  would  at  leaft  think  there  had  been  a  battle; 
'A\\6.  a  battle  there  probably  would  have  been,  had  it  not  been  for  the 
moderating  pruderice  of  thofe  w  hom  Mr.  Burke  involves  in  his  een- 
fureft.  By  his  keeping  the  gardes  du  corps  out  of  fight,  Mr.  Burke 
has  affordt-d  himfelf  the  dramatic  licence  of  putting  the  king  and 
tiueen  in  their  places,  as  if  the  objed  of  the  expedition  was  againfl. 
them. — But,  to  return  to  my  account — 

This  condud.  of  the  gardes  du  corps,  as  might  well  be  expefted, 
alarmed  and  enraged  the  Parlfians,  The  colours  of  the  caufe,  and  the 
caufe  itfelf,  were  become  too  united  to  miilake  the  intention  of  the 


RIGHTS..  O  F"H  AN. 

i^ifult,   and  the  PariTians  were  detefiriiaeS  to  call  the  ^'-  -:•'■/••- 

to  an  account.     Thsre  was  certainly  Bathing  of  the  cor. 
faflination  in  marching  in  the  face  of  day  to  demand  fatisl^ctic. 
fiich  a  phrafe  may  be  ufed,  of  a  body  of  armed  men  who  had  v:>iiin- 
tarily  given  deSancc.      But  the  circumftance  which  f(?rves  '4r?  ^'i  r.,-- 
this  affair  into  embarraiTment  is,    that  the  enemies  of  the    iv 
appear  to  have  encouraged  it,  as  well  as  its  friends.     The  one'^h 
to  prevent  a  civil  war  by  checking  it  in  time,  and  the  other  td^irlak. 
one.     The  hopes  of  thofe  oppofed  to  the  revolution,  refted  in  mvAi-^ 
ing  the  king  of  their  party,  and  getting  him  from  VeriaiUes  to  Met:-;, 
\vhere  they  expected  to  co11c£l  a  force,  and  fet.up  a  {landard.     We 
have   therefore  two   diSerent   objedls   prefenting   themfclvcs    at  the 
fame  time,  and  to  be  accomplirned  by  the  fame  means:    the  one,"  to 
chadife  the  gardes  du  corps,  which  was  the  objecl  of  the  Panfiafis  ; 
the  other,  to  render  th^'confufion  of  fuch  a  fcene  an.  inducement  to 
the  king  to  fet  of?  for  Metz. 

On  the  5th  of  Oclober,  a  very  niimercr.3  body  of  wotrren,  and 
men  in  the  difo-uife  of  womea,  collected  round  the  Hotel  *^  Vilie  or 
town-hail  at  Paris,  and  fet  oft  for  Verfailles.  Their  profclTeji^  cbjcct 
was  xh.Q  gardes  du  corps  ;  but  prudent  men  readily  recoiie^ell  that, 
mifchief  is  eafier  begun  than  ended  ;  and  this  imprelTed  itfelF'with 
the  more  force,  from  the  fufpicions  already  flatcd,  and  the  irregu- 
larity of  fuch  a  cavalcade.  As  foon  ^.erefore  as  a  fulficient  force 
could  be  collefted  M.  de  la  Fayerte,  by  orders  fromx  the  civil  autho- 
rity of  Paris,  fet  off  after  them  at  the  head  cf.tvrenty  tl;oufand  of -tjiie 
Paris  mihtia.  The  revolution  could  derive  no  benefit  from  con^ 
iion,  and  its  oppofers  mii^ht.  By  an  amiable  and  fpirited  manner  cS 
addrefs,  he  had  hitherto  been  fortunate  in  calming  difquietudes,  and ' 
in  this  he  was  extraordinarily  fuccefsful;  to  fruflrute,  therefore,  the 
hopes  of  thofe  who  might  feek  to  improve  this  fcene  into  a  fort  of 
juftiiiable  necefiily  for  the  king's  quitting  Verfaiiies  and  withdrawing 
to  Metz,  and  to  prevent  at  the  fame  time,  the  confequences  that 
might  cnfue  between  the  gardes  du  corps  and  this  phalanx  of  men 
and  women,  he  forwarded  cxprelTes  to  the  king,  that  he  was  on  his 
march  to  Verfaiiies,  at  the  orders  of  the  civil  authority  of  Paris,  for 
the  purpofe  of  peace  and  protection,  exprefilng  at  the  fame  time, 
the  necedity  of  rcftraining  the  gardes  du  corps  from  firing  on  the 
]>eople.'"*' 

"■'   I  am  ^a:-rcnted  in  ajferting  this ,  as  I  had  It  from  M.  de  la  Fay- 
eite,  'with  luhom  I  have  lived  in  habits  cffriendjlvp  fir  frurteen  vsars. 
Vol.   II.  1      " 


t^  P  A  I  N  E  '  s     W  O  R  K  S. 

He  arrived  at  Verfailles  between  ten  and  eleven  at  night.  The 
gardes  du  corps  was  drawn  up,  and  the  people  had  arrived  lome  time 
before,  but  every  thing  had  remained  fufpended.  Wifdom  and  po- 
licy now  confilled  in  changing  a  fcene  of  danger  into  a  happv  event. 
M.  de  la  Fayette  became  the  mediator  between  the  enraged  parties; 
and  the  king,  to  remove  the  uneafmefs  which  had  arifen  from  the 
delay  already  flated,  fent  for  tJie  prefidcnt  of  the  national  aifembly, 
and  figned  the  declaration  of  the  rights  of  7nan,  and  fuch  other  parts  of 
the  conilitution  as  were  in  re?idinefs. 

It  was  now  about  one  in  the  morning.  Eveiy  tiling  appeared  to 
be  compofed,  and  a  general  congratulation  took  place.  At  the  beat 
of  d.um  a  proclamation  v.-as  made,  that  the  citizens  of  Verfailles 
would  g'wt  the  hofpitality  of  their  houfes  to  their  fellow-citizens  of 
Paris.  Thofe  who  could  not  be  accommodated  in  this  manner,  re- 
m  lined  \n  tlic  llreets,  or  took  up  their  quarters  in  the  churches;  and 
at  two  o'clock  the  king  and  queen  retired. 

In  this  ilate  matters  pafTed  till  the  break  of  day,  when  a  freih  dif- 
turbance  arofe  from  the  ccnfurable  conduct  of  fome  of  both  parties, 
for  fnch  characters  there  will  be  in  all  fuch  fcenes.  One  of  the  rrardes 
du  corps  apDsared  at  one  of  the  windows  of  the  palace,  and  the  peo- 
ple who  had  remained  during  the  night  in  the  ftrtets  accofted  him  with 
reviling  and  provocative  language.  Inftead  of  retiring,  as  {(,  fuch 
a  cafe  prudence  would  have  ditlated,  he  prefented  his  raullcet,  fired, 
and  killed  one  of  the  Paris  mihtia.  The  peace  being  thus  broken, 
the  people  rufned  into  the  palace  in  qucft  of  the  offender.  They  at- 
tacked the  quarters  of  the  gardes  du  corps  within  the  palace,  and  pur- 
fued  them  through  the  avenues  cf  it,  and  to  the  apartments  of  the 
king.  On  this  tumult,  not  the  queen  only,  as  Mr.  Burke  has  repre- 
fented  it,  but  every  pcrfon  in  the  palace,  was  awakened  and  alarmed; 
and  M  de  ia  Fayette  had  a  fecond  time  to  interpofe  between  the  par- 
ties, the  event  of  vvdiich  was,  that  the  gardes  du  corps  put  on  the  na- 
tional cockade,  and  tlie  matter  ended,  as  by  oblivion,  after  the  lofs  of 
two  or  three  lives. 

During  the  latter  part  of  the  time  in  which  this  ccnfufion  was  a£^- 
ing,  the  king  and  queen  were  in  public  at  the  balcony,  and  neither 
of  them  concealed  for  fafety's  fake,  as  Mr.  Buike  inhnuates.  Mat- 
ters being  thus  appeafed,  and  tranquility  reftored,  a  general  acclama- 
tion broke  forth,  of  Le  roi  a  Paris— Le  rffi  a  Paris — The  king  to 
Paris.  It  was  the  fhoat  of  peace,  and  immediately  accepted  on  the 
part  of  the  king.  By  this  meafure,  all  future  projefts  of  trepanning 
tl>e  king  to  Met/,   and  fctting  up  the  ftandard  of  oppofition  to  the 


R  I  G  H  T  S     O  F    M  A  N.  ^9 

conftitutlon,  were  prevented,  and  the  fufpicions  cxtingaifncd.  The 
king  and  his  family  reached  Paris  in  the  evening,  and  were  congratu- 
lated on  their  arrival  by  M.  Bailley,  the  mayor  of  Parisj  in  the  name 
of  the  citizens.  Mr.  Burke,  who  throuphout  his  book  confounds 
things,  perfons,  and  principles,  has  in  his  remarks  on  M.  Bailley's  ad- 
drefs,  confounded  time  alfo.  He  cenfures  M.  Bailley  for  calling  it, 
**  un  honjmir^^^  a  good  day.  Mr.  Burke  faould  have  informed  him- 
felf,  that  this  fcene  took  up  the  fp.ace  of  two  days,  the  day  on  which 
it  began  witli  eveiy  appearance  of  danger  and  rnifchief,  and  the  day 
on  which  it  terminated  without  the  mifchicfs  that  threatened ;  and 
that  it  is  to  this  peaceful  termination  that  M.  Bailley  alludes,  and  to 
the  arrival  of  the  kiiig  at  Paris.  Not  lefs  than  three  hundred  tliou- 
fand  perfons  arranged  themfelves  in  the  procllion  from  Verfaillcs  to 
Paris,  and  not  an  act  of  moleftation  was  coinmitted  during  the  whole 

march. 

Mr.    Burke,  on  the  authority  of  M.  Lally  Tollendal,   a  deferter 

from  the  national  affembly,  fays,  that  on  entering  Paris,  the  people 

(houted,   "  Tons  les  eveques  a  la  lanterne.^^      Allbifncps  to  be  hanged 

at  the  lanthorn  or  lamp-pods^ — It  is  furprifing  that  nobody  fuculd 

hear  this  but  Lally  Tollendal,  and  that  nobody  fnould  believe  it  but 

Mr.  Burke.    It  has  not  the  the  leaft  conne6tion  with  any  part  of  the 

tranfaclion,  and  is  totally  foreign  to  every  circumftance  of  it.      The 

biihops  have  never  been  introduced  before  into  any  fcene  of  Mr. 

Burke's  drama:  Why  then  are  they,  all  at  once,  and  together,  tout  a. 

coup  et  tons  enfemhle^   introduced  now?      Mr.  Burke  brings  forward 

his  bifhops  and  his  lanthorn,   like  figures  in   a  magic  lanthorn,   and 

raifes  his  fcenes  by  contrail:  inftead  of  conneclion.      But  it  ferves  to 

fliew,  with  the  reft  of  his  book,  v.hat  little  credit  ought  to  be  given, 

where  even  probability  is  fet  at  defiance,  for  ihe  purpofe  of  defaming  ; 

and  with  this  reflcdlion,  inftead  of  a  foliioquy  in  praife  of  chivalry,  as 

Mr.  Purke  has  done,  I  clofe  the  account  of  the  expedition    to  Ver- 

failles.* 

I  have  now  to  follow  Mr.  Buvke  through  a  pathlefs  wildernefs  of 
rhapfodies,  and  a  fort  of  defeant  upon  governmer-ts,  in  which  he  af- 
fcrts  whatever  he  pleafes,  on  the  prcfumption  of  its  being  behcved, 
without  offering  either  evidence  or  reafons  for  fo  doing. 

Before  any  thing  can  be  reafoned  upon  to  a  conclufion,  certain  fa*£ls, 

*  An  account  of  the  expedition  tt  Verfaiiles  may  he  fcen  in  No.  I'^t  of 
the  Revolution  de  Paris,  containing  the  events  from  the  ^d  to  ike  lOth 
*f  October^  17^9' 


Co  PAINE  \s    WO  RKS. 

principles,  or  data,  to  reafon  from,  mufl  be  eftablifhed,  admitted,  or 
denied.      Mr.  Eurke,  with  his  ufual  outrage,  abufes  the  declaration  of 
the  rights  of  man,  publifhedby  the  national  affembly  of  France,  as  the 
bafis  on  which  the  conftitution  of  France  is  built.     This  he  calls  "  pal- 
try and  blurred  fheets  of  paper  about  the  rights  of  man." — Does  Mr. 
Eurke  mean  to  deny  that  maji  has  any  rights?     If  he  does,  then  he 
muft  mean  that  there  are  no  fuch  things  as  rights  any  where,  and 
that  he  has  ncne  himfclf ;  for  who  is  there  in  the  world  but  maji?  But 
if  Mr.  Burke  means  to  admit  that  man  has  rights,  the  queftion  then 
will  be,  what  are  thofe  rights,  and  how  came  man  by  them  originally  I 
The  error  of  thofe  who  reafon  by  precedents  drawn  from  antiquity, 
rcfpefting  the  rights  of  man,  is,    that  they  do  not  go  far  enough  into 
antiquity.     They  do  not  go  the  whole  way.     They  Hop  in  fome  of 
the  intermediate  ilages  of  an  hundred  or  a  thoufand  years,  and  pro- 
duce wliat  was  then  done  as  a  rule  for  the  prefent  day.      This  is  no 
authority  at  all.     If  we  travel  Hill  farther  into  antiquity,  we  will  lind 
a  direft  contrary  opinion  andpraftice  prevailing;  and  if  antiquity  is  to 
be  authority,  a  thoufand  fuch  authorities  may  be  produced,  fuccef- 
lively  contradi£ling  each  other  :  But  if  we  proceed  on,  we  fhall  at  lall 
come  out  rif^ht;  we  fhall  come  to  the  time  when  man  came  from  the 
hand  of  his  maker.     What  was  he  then  ?    Man.      Man  was  his  }iigh 
and  only  title,  and  a  higher  cannot  be  given  him. — But  of  titles  I 
fhall  fpeak  hereafter. 

We  are  now  got  at  the  origin  of  man,  and  at  the  origin  of  his 
riffhts.  As  to  the  manner  in  which  the  world  has  been  governed 
from  that  day  to  this,  it  is  no  farther  any  concern  of  curs  than  to 
make  a  proper  ufe  of  the  errors  or  the  improvements  which  thehiftory 
of  it  prefents.  Thofe  who  lived  an  hundred  or  a  thoufand  years  ago, 
were  then  moderns  as  we  are  now.  They  had  their  ancients  and  thofe 
ancients  had  others,  and  we  alfo  (hall  be  ancients  in  our  turn.  If  the 
mere  name  of  antiquity  is  to  govern  in  the  affairs  of  life,  the  people 
who  arc  to  live  an  hundred  or  a  thoufand  years  hence,  may  as  well 
take  us  for  a  precedent,  as  we  make  a  precedent  of  thofe  who  lived 
an  hundred  or  a  thoufand  years  ago.  The  fadl  is,  that  portions  of 
antiquity,  by  proving  every  thing,  eftablifh  nothing.  It  is  authority 
againft  authority  all  the  way,  till  we  come  to  the  divine  origin  of  the 
rights  of  man,  at  the  creation.  Here  our  enquiries  find  a  refting- 
place,  and  our  reafon  finds  a  home.  If  a  difpute  about  the  rights  of 
man  had  arofe  at  the  diftance  of  an  hundred  years  from  the  creation, 
it  is  to  this  fource  of  authority  they  muft  have  referred,  and  it  is  to 
the  fame  fource  of  authority  that  we  mull  now  refer. 


RIGHTS     OF    LI  A  N.  6i 

Though  I  mean  iiot  to  touch  upon  any  fcdarian  principle  of  re- 
ligion, yet  It  m?y  be  worth  cbfvivvlr.g,  that  the  genealogy  of  Chrlil 
is  traced  to  Adam.-  Why  then  not  trace  the  rights  of  man  to  the 
creation  of  man?  I  will  anl"wer  the  queixion.  Bccaufe  there  have 
been  an  upHart  of  governments,  thruding  themfelves  between,  and 
prefumptuouily  working  to  un-raahe  man. 

If  any  generation  of  men  ever  poffeffed  the  right  of  dictating  the 
mode  by  which  the  v\»orld  {hould  be  governed  for  ever,  it  wa,-  the 
firft:  generation  that  exited;  and  if  that  generation  did  not  do  it,  no 
fucceeding  generation  can  ihew  any  authority  for  doing  it,  nor  fet  any 
up.  The  illuminating  arid  divine  principles  of  the  eqnal  rights  of 
man  (for  it  has  its  origin  from  the  maker  of  man,)  relates,  not  only 
to  the  living  individuals,  but  to  generations  of  men  fucceeding  each 
other.  Every  generation  is  equal  in  rights  to  the  generations  which 
preceded  \t^  by  the  fame  rule  that  every  individual  is  born  equal  in 
rights  with  his  cotemporaiy. 

Every  hiftory  of  the  creation,  and  eve;*}'  traditionary  account,  whe- 
ther from  the  lettered  or  unlettered  world,  however  they  may  vary 
in  their  opinion  or  belief  of  certain  particulars,  all  agree  in  cftablifning 
one  point,  the  unity  of  man  ;  by  which  I  mean  that  man  is  all  of  one 
degree^  and  confequentiy  that  all  men  are  born  equal,  and  with  equr.l 
natural  rights,  in  the  fame  manner  as  if  pofterity  had  been  continued 
by  creation  inftead  of  generation,  the  latter  being  only  the  mode  by 
which  the  former  is  carried  forvrard;  and  confequentiy,  every  child 
born  into  the  vrorld  mud  be  confidered  as  deriving  its  exifience  from 
God.  The  v^'orld  is  as  new  to  him  as  it  was  to  the  firll  m.an  that 
exifted,  and  his  natural  right  in  it  is  of  the  fame  kind. 

The  Mofaic  account  of  the  creation,  whether  taken  as  divine  au- 
thority, or  merely  hiftorical,  is  fully  u'p  to  this  point,  the  unify  or  equa- 
lity of  man.  The  expreffions  admit  of  no  contrcverfy.  "  And  God 
**  faid,  Let  us  make  man  in  our  own  imaffe.  In  the  imao-e  of  God 
**  created  he  him;  misle  and  female  created  he  them."  The  diflinc- 
tlon  of  fexes  is  pointed  out,  but  no  other  didinftion  is  even  implied. 
If  this  be  not  divine  authority,  it  is  at  lead  hidorical  authority,  and 
fhews  that  the  equality  of  man,  fa  far  from  being  a  modern  do6irine, 
is  the  olded  upon  record. 

It  is  alfo  to  be  obferved,  that  all  the  rtligions  known  in  the  v/orld 
are  founded,  fo  far  as  they  relate  to  man,  on  the  unity  of  man,  as  being 
all  of  one  dep-ree.  Whether  in  heaven  or  in  hell,  or  in  whatever 
ftate  man  may  be  fuppofed  to  exid  hereafter,  the  good  and  the  bad 
are  the   only  didinclions.     Nay,   even  the  laws  of  governments  are 


62  P  A  I  N  E  '  s     W  O  R  K  S. 

obliged  to  PAde  into  this  principle,  by  making  degrees  to  confiil  ii'j 
crimes,  and  not  in  Derfons. 

It  is  one  of  the  greateft  of  all  truths,  and  of  the  highell  advantage 
to  cultivate.  By  cor.fidering  man  in  this  light,  zwd  by  in  ft ru cling 
him  to  confidcr  himfelf  in  this  light,  it  places  him^  in  a  clofe  connec- 
tion with  all  his  duties,  whether  to  his  creator,  or  to  the  creation, 
of  which  he  is  a  part ;  and  it  is  only  when  he  forgets  his  origin,  or, 
to  life  a  more  fafhionable  phrafe,  his  I'lrth  and  family,  that  he  becomes 
dinbhite.  It  is  not  among  the  Itail  of  the  evils  of  the  prefent  exifling 
governments  in  all  parts  of  Europe,  that  mian,  confidercd  as  m:an,  is 
thrown  back  to  a  vaft  diftance  from  his  maker,  and  the  artificial 
chafm  filled  up  by  a  fuccefiion  of  barriers,  or  a  fort  of  turnpike  gates, 
through  which  he  has  to  pafs.  I  will  quote  Mr.  Burke's  cata^csrue 
of  barriers  that  he  has  fet  up  between  man  and  his  msker.  Futtino' 
hii^ifelf  in  the  character  of  a  herald,  he  fays- — "  We  fear  Gcd- — we 
**  lock  with  o'u^e  to  kings — with  afFedlion  to  parliament? — with 
**  duty  to  m.agillrates — with  reverence  to  pricib,  and  with  refpecl  to 
"  nobih'ty."  Mr.  Burke  has  forgot  to  put  in  "  chlialry"  He  has 
alfo  forgot  to  put  in  Peter. 

The  duty  of  man  is  not  a  wildernefs  of  turnpike  gates,  through 
v^hich  he  is  to  pais  by  tickets  from  one  to  the  other.  It  is  phin 
and  fimple,  and  ccnfiils  but  of  two  points.  His  dutv  to  God, 
which  eveiT  man  muft  feel;  and  with  refpeft  to  his  neighbour,  to  do 
as  he  would  be  done  by.  If  thofe  to  whom  power  is  delegated  do 
well,  they  will  be  refpetfled  ;  if  not,  they  will  be  defpiff  d ;  and  with 
re?"ard  to  thofe  to  whom  no  power  is  delegated,  but  who  ah"ume  it, 
the  rational  world  can  know  notliing  of  them. 

Hitherto  we  have  fpoken  only  (and  that  but  in  part)  of  the  natural 
ri'^hts  of  m.an.  We  have  now  to  confider  the  civil  rights  of  man,  and 
to  fhew  how  the  one  originates  out  of  the  other.  •  Man  did  Hot 
enter  into  fociety  to  become  ivorfe  than  he  was  before,  nor  to 
have  lefs  rip-hts  than  he  had  before,  but  to  have  thofe  nVhts  better 
fecured.  His  natural  rights  are  the  foundation  of  all  his  civil  rights. 
But  in  order  to  purfue  this  diRinftion  with  more  preciilon,  it  will 
be  nccefTary  to  mark  the  different  qualities  of  natural  and  civil 
rights. 

A  few  words  will  explain  this.  Natural  rights  are  thofe  which 
appertain  to  man  in  right  of  his  exiftence.  Of  this  kind  are  all  the 
inteUeftual  rights,  or  rights  of  the  miind,  and  alfo  all  thofe  rights  of 
a6ling  as  an  individual  for  his  own  comfort  and  happinefs,  which 
are  not  injurious  to  the  natural  rights   of  others. — Civil  rights  arc 


RI  G  H  T  S     O  F    M  A  N.  63 

taofe  which  appertran  to  man  in  n^ht  of  his  being:  a  member  of  fo- 
ciety.  Every  civil  right  has  for  its  foundation  fome  natural  right 
pre-exifting  in  the  individual,  bat  to  which  his  individual  power  is 
not,  in  all  cafes,  fuuiciently  competent.  Of  this  kind  are  all  thofe 
wliich  relate  to  fccurity  and  protection. 

From  this  fhovt  review,  it  will  be  eafy  to  diftinguilh  between  that 
clafs  of  natural  rights  which  man  retains  after  enteiiug  into  focictv, 
and  thofe  which  he  throws  into  common  ftock  as  a  member  of  fo- 
ciety. 

The  natural  rights  wliich  he  retains,    are   all   thofe  in   wliich  the 
power  to  execute  i^   as  perfeCl   in  the   individual  as  the  right   itfelf. 
Among  this  clafs,   as  is  before  mentioned,  are   all   the    intelleftual 
rights,  or  rights  of  the  mind  :    Confequently,   religion  is  one  of  thofe 
rights.      The  natural  rights  which  are  not  retained,   are  all  thofe  iu 
which,   though  the  right  h  perfeft  in  the  individual,    the  power  to 
execute  them  is  defedlive.      They  anfwer  not  his  purpofe.     A  man, 
by  natural  right,  has  a  right  to  judge  in  his  own  caufe  ;  and  fo  far 
as  the  right  of  the  mind  is   concerned,  he  never  furrenders  it  :    But 
what  availeth  it  him  to  judge,    if  he  has  not  power  to  redrefs  ?     He 
therefore  depofits  this  right  in  the  common   llock  of  fociety,   and 
takes  the  arm  of  fociety,  of  which  he  is  a  part,  in  preference  an-d  in 
addition  to  his  own.      Society  grants  In'm  nothings      Every  man  is  a 
proprietor  in  fociety,  and  draws  on  the  capital  as  a  matter  of  right. 
From  thefe  premifcs,  two  or  three  certain  conciufions  will  follow. 
Firll,  That  every  civil  right  grows  out  of  a  natural  right  ;   or,  m 
other  words,  is  a  natural  right  exchanged. 

Secondly,  That  civil  power,  properly  confidered  as  fuch,  is  made 
up  of  the  aggregate  of  tliat  clafs  of  the  natural  rights  of  man,  whick 
becomes  defective  in  the  individual  in  point  of  pov/er,  and  anfwers  not 
his  purpofe,  but  when  coIle6led  to  a  focus,  becomes  competent  to 
the  purpofe  of  every  one. 

Thirdly,  That  the  power  produced  from  -the  aggregate  of  natural 
rights,  imperfe£l  in  power  in  the  individual,  cannot  be  applied  to  in- 
vade the  natural  rights  v/hich  are  retained  in  the  individual,  and  i-n 
which  the  power  to  execute  is  as  perfeft  as  the  riglit  itfelf. 

We  have  now,  in  a  few  words,  traced  mar.  from  a  natural  indivi- 
dual to  a  m.ember  of  fociety,  and  fliewn,  or  endeavoured  to  fhew  the 
quality  of  the  natural  rights  retained,  and  of  thofe  which  are  ex- 
changed for  civil  rights.  Let  us  now  apply  thofe  princioles  to  cro- 
rernment. 

I«  caftJng  our  eyes  over  the  world,  ife  is  extremely  eafv  to  difiio- 


C^  V  A  I  1'^  E  's     Vv^  O  R  K  S. 

guild  the  governments  which  have  aiifen  out  cf  focietr,  or  out  of 
the  fecial  compa-fl,  frcni  ihofe  which  have  not  :  But  to  place, this 
in  a  clearer  h'Hit  than  wLnt  a  fin  ok  p-]ance  may  afford,  it  will  be  pro- 
per  to  take  a  review  of  the  fcveral  fources  from  which  governments 
have  arifen,  and  on  which  they  have  been  founded. 

They  may  be  all  comprehended  under  three  heads,  ift,  Super- 
flition.  2dh7,  Power.  sdly,  The  common  interefcs  of  fociety, 
and  the  common  rights  of  man. 

The  firft  was  a  government  of  pneil-craft,  the  fecond  of  con- 
querors, and  the  third  of  rcafon. 

V/hen  a  fet  of  artful  men  pretended,  through  the  medium  of 
oracles,  to  hold  intercourfe  with  the  Deity,  as  familiarly  as  they  now 
ir.arch  up  the  back-flairs  in  European  courts,  the  v^^orld  was  com- 
pletely under  the  gcverr,ment  of  fuperflition.  The  oracles  were 
confulted,  and  whatever  they  were  made  to  fa}-,  becamie  the  law  ; 
and  this  fort  of  government  lafted  ?.z  long  as  tliis  fort  of  fuperllition 
lalled. 

After^thefe  a  race  of  conquerors  arofe,  v/hofe  government,  like 
that  of  Wilham  the  conqueror,  v/as  founded  in  power,  and  the 
fword  alfumed  the  name  of  a  fceptre.  Governments  thus  eftabhfhed, 
laft  as  long  as  the  power  to  fiipport  them  lafts;  but  that  they  might 
avail  themfclvcs  of  every  engine  in  their  favour,  they  united  fraud 
to  force,  and  fct  up  an  idol  which  they  called  dhh;e  right,  and  which, 
in  imitation  cf  the  pope,  vv'ho  affedts  to  be  fpiritual  and  temporal, 
and  in  contradidion  to  the  founder  of  the  Chriftian  reliprion,  twifted 
it fclf  afterwards  into  an  idol  of  another  Ihape,  called  church  andjlate. 
The  key  of  St.  Peter,  and  the  key  of  the  treafury,  became  quar- 
tered en  one  another,  and  the  v/ondering  cheated  multitude  wor- 
fhipped  the  invention. 

Vvhen  I  ccRtemplate  tlie  natural  dignity  of  man  ;  when  I  feel 
(for  nature  has  not  been  kind  enough  to  me  to  blunt  my  feelings)  for 
the  honour  and  happinefs  of  its  charafter,  I  become  irritated  at  the 
attempt  to  govern  mankind  by  force  and  fraud,  as  if  they  were  all 
knaves  and  fools,  and  can  fcarcely  avoid  difguil  at  thofe  who  are 
thus  impofed  upon. 

We  have  now  to  revi.  t;  the  governments  which  arife  out  of  fociety, 
in  contradiilindion  to  thofe  which  arofe  out  of  fuperftition  and 
conquelh 

It  has  been   thought  a  confidcrable  advance   towards  efiablifning ' 
the   principles  of  freedom,  to   fay,   that  government  is   a    compaft 
between  thole-  who  govern  and  thofe  who  are  £:overned  :  But  this 


:R.  I  G  H  T  S     OF    M  A  N.  C5 

cannot  be  true,  becaufe  it  Is  piittinjj  the  effefl  before  tlie  c?.\ue ;  for 
as  man  mufl;  have  exiftecl  before  goTernments  exifted,  there  necefia- 
rily  was  a  time  when  governments  did  not  exift,  and  confequently 
thrre  could  originally  exilb  no  governors  to  form  fuch  a  compact 
with.  The  faifl  therefore  mull  be,  that  the  mdhi'idttah  thenifelvesy 
each  in  his  own  perfonal  and  fovereign  right,  erJered  hito  a  compacl  •zvlih 
ea:J3  other  to  produce  a  government  :  And  this  is  the  only  mode  in 
which  governments  have  a  right  to  arife,  and  the  only  principle  on 
which  they  have  a  right  to  exifl. 

To  poiTefs  ourfelves  of  a  clear  idea  of  what  government  is  or 
•light  to  be,  we  muft  trace  it  to  its  origin.  In  doing  this,  we  fiiall 
cahly  difcover  that  governments  muft  have  arifen,  either  out  of  the 
people,  or  over  the  people.  Mr.  Burke  has  made  no  diilinftion. 
He  invcftigates  nothing  to  its  fource,  and  therefore  he  confounds 
every  thing:  But  he  has  figniiiedhis  intention  of  undertaking  at  feme 
future  opportunity,  a  comparifon  between  the  conftitutions  of  Eng- 
land and  France.  As  he  thus  renders  it  a  fubjecl  of  contrevcrfy  by 
throwing  the  gauntlet,  I  take  him  up  on  hip  own  ground.  It  is  in 
high  challenges  that  high  truths  have  the  right  of  appearing  ;  and 
I  accept  it  with  the  more  readinefs,  becaufe  it  affords  me,  at  the  fame 
time,  an  opportunity  of  purfuing  the  fubje6);  with  refpefl:  to  govern- 
ments arifinsf  out  of  fociety. 

But  it  will  be  firil  neceflary  to  define  v/hat  is  ir.eant  by  a  covfututhn. 
if  is  not  fuflicient  that  we  adopt  the  word;  we  mult  hx  alfo  a  Rand- 
ard-fignification  to  it. 

A  conftitution  is  not  a  thing  in  name  only,  but  la  facl.  It  ha<^ 
not  an  ideal,  but  a  real  exiilence;  and  wherever  it  cannot  be  produced 
in  a  vifible  form,  there  is  none.  A  conftitution  is  a  thing  antecedent 
to  a  governmcn!:,  and  a  government  is  only  the  creature  of  a  conftitu- 
tion. The  conftitution  of  acounti-y  is  not  the  aft  of  its  government, 
but  of  the  people  conflituting  a  government.  It  is  the  body  of  ele- 
ments, to  which  you  can  refei',  and  quote  article  by  article  ;  and 
which  contains  the  principles  on  which  the  government  uiall  be  eftab- 
liflied,  the  mmner  iu  which  it  fhall  be  organized,  the  powers  it  ftiall 
have,  the  mode  of  eleclions,  the  duration  of  parliaments,  or  by  what 
other  name  fnch  bodies  may  be  called;  the  powers  v. hich  the  exe- 
cutive part  of  the  government  fiiail  have ;  and,  in  fine,  every  thing 
that  relates  to  the  complete  organization  of  a  civil  government,  and 
the  principles  on  which  It  (hall  aft,  and  by  which  it  fhall  be  bound. 
A  conftitution,  therefore,  is  to  a  government,  what  the  laws  made 
afterwards  by  that  government  are  to  a  court  of  judicature.  The 
Vol.  II.  K 


C'6  PAINE's    WORKS. 

court  of  judicature  doss  not  make  laws,  neither  can  it  alter  them  ; 
it  only  z'Sts  in  confonnitv  to  the  lavrs  made  ;  and  the  governnient  is 
in  like  mannsr  governed  by  the  conilitution. 

Can  then  Mr.  Eurke  produce  the  Englifh  conftituticn?  If  he  can- 
not vre  mav  fairlv  conclude,  that  thouc-h  it  has  been  fo  much  talked 
about,  no  fuch  thing  as  a  conilitution  esiils,  or  ever  did  exill,  and 
confequentl)'  that  t!ie  people  have  yet  a  eonflitution  to  form. 

Mr-  Burke  will  not,  I  prefume,  deny  the  pofition  I  have  already 
advanced  ;  namely,  that  governments  arife  either  cut  of  the  people,  or 
oivr  the  people.  The  Englilh  government  is  one  of  thcfe  which 
arofe  out  of  a  ccnqucll,  and  not  out  of  fociety,  and  confequently  it 
arofe  cv^r  the  people  ;  and  though  ife  has  been  much  modified  from 
the  opportunity  of  circumilances  fince  the  time  of  William  the  con- 
queror, the  country  has  never  yet  regenerated  itfch^,  and  is  therefore 
v.ithout  a  conrtitution. 

I  readily  perceive  the  reafon  why  Mr.  Burke  decUned  going  into 
the  comporifon  between  the  Englifh  and  French  conftitutions,  be- 
caufe  he  could  net  but  perceive,  when  he  fat  down  to  the  talk,  that 
no  fuch  thing  as  a  conilitution  exifted  on  his  fide  the  quefiion.  Kis 
book  is  certainly  bulky  enough  to  have  contained  all  he  could  fay  on 
this  fubje^,  and  it  would  have  been  the  befl  manner  in  which  people 
could  have  judged  of  their  feparate  merits.  Why  then  has  he  de- 
cliucvi  the  only  thing  that  was  worth  while  to  write  upon  ?  It  was 
the  flron^eft  ^^round  he  could  take,  it  the  ad^'antag-es  were  on  has  fide ; 
but  the  wcakcit  if  they  were  not  ;  and  his  declining  to  take  it,  i& 
either  a  fign  that  he  could  not  pofTeis  it,  or  could  not  maintam  it. 

Mr.  Burke  has  laid,  in  a  fpee^h  laft  winter  in  parliament,  that  when 
the  national  afiembly  firft  met  in  three  orders  (the  tiers  etats,  the 
clerg)-,  and  the  aoblefie),  that  Prance  had  then  a  good  conilitution. 
Tliis  (hews,  among  numerous  other  inflances,  that  Mr.  Burke  does 
net  iinderiland  what  a  conilitution  is.  The  perfons  {o  met,  were  not 
a  confiitution,  but  a  convent'on  to  make  a  conilitution. 

The  prefent  national  alTembly  of  France  is,  ilritlly  fpeaking,  the 
perfonal  focial  ccmpatt.  The  members  of  it  are  the  delegates  of 
the  nation  in  its  orhinal  character  ;  future  aiTemxblies  wiU  be  the  dele- 
trates  of  the  nation  in  its  organized  character.  The  authoritv  of  the 
piefentafTcmbly  is  di5'»;rent  to  what  the  authority  of  fjture  afTemblies 
will  be.  The  authority  of  the  prefent  one  is  to  form  a  conftituticii: 
the  authority  of  future  aiTemblies  will  be  to  legiilatc  according  to  the 
principles  and  fonns  prefcribed  in  that  conilitution;  and  if  experience 
fiiculd  hereafter  ihc^-  that  alterations,  amendments,  or  additions  arc 


R  I  G  H  T  5     O  F     M  A  N.  67 

Bcccffaiy,  the  conflltution  will  point  out  the  mode  byivhichfuch  things 
fhall  be  done,  and  not  leave  it  to  the  difcrctionary  power  of  the  fu- 
ture government. 

A  government  on  the  principles  on  which  conflitutional  govern- 
ments, arixing  out  of  fociety,  are  eflablifhed,  cannot  have  the  nght 
of  altering  itfelf.  If  it  had,  it  would  be  arbitran.'.  It  might  roaKC 
itfclf  what  it  pleafed ;  and  wherever  fuch  a  right  is  fet  up,  it  (hews 
there  is  no  conilitution.  The  act  by  which  the  Englifh  parh'ament 
empowered  itfelf  to  fit  feven  years,  (hews  there  is  no  conflitt:t:on  in 
England.  It  might,  by  the  fame  felf-auihority,  have  fat  any  greater 
number  of  years,  or  for  life.  The  bill  which  the  prefent  Mr.  Pitt 
brought  Into  parliament  fome  years  ago,  to  reform  parliament,  was 
on  the  fame  erroneous  principle.  The  right  of  reform  is  in  the  nation  in 
its  original  characler,  and  the  conftitutional  method  would  be  by  a  ge- 
neral convention  elecled  for  the  purpofe.  There  is  mcrever  a  pai-a- 
dox  in  the  idea  of  vitiated  bodies  reforming  themfe'ives. 

From  thefe  preliminaries  I  proceed  to  draw  fome  comparifons.  I 
have  already  fpoken  of  the  declaration  cf  rights ;  and  as  I  mean  to 
be  as  concife  as  pofiible,  I  fnall  proceed  to  ether  parts  cf  the  Frenth 
conflitution. 

The  conflitution  of  France  fays,  that  ever\-  man  who  p:iys  a  tax 
of  fixty  fo\is  per  annum  (2  s.  and  6q.  Englilh),  is  an  elector.  Wh^t 
article  will  Mr.  Burke  place  againit  this  ?  Can  any  thing  be  more 
limited,  and  at  the  fame  time  more  capricious,  than  what  the  quali- 
fications of  electors  are  in  England  :  Limited — becaule  not  one  man 
in  an  hundred  (I  fpeak  much  within  compafs)  13  admitted  to  vote: 
Capricious — becaufe  the  lowed  characler  that  can  be  fuppofed  to 
€xift,  and  who  has  not  fo  much  as  the  vifible  m.eans  of  an  honell  live- 
lihood,  is  an  eledlor  in  fome  places ;  while,  in  other  places,  the  man 
who  pays  ver\'  large  taxes,  and  with  a  fair  knov\-n  charr.dier,  and  the 
farmer  who  rents  to  the  amount  of  three  or  fcur  hundred  pounds  a 
year,  and  with  a  property  on  that  farm  to  three  or  four  times  that 
amount,  is  not  admitted  to  be  an  eleiior.  Ever}-  thing  is  out  of  na- 
ture, as  Mr.  Burke  fays  on  another  occafion,  in  this  firange  chaos, 
and  all  forts  of  follies  are  blended  with  all  forts  of  crimes.  Wilhara 
the  conqueror  and  his  defcendants  parcelled  cut  the  country  in  this 
manner,  and  bribed  one  part  of  it  by  what  they  called  charters,  to 
hold  the  otlier  parts  of  it  the  better  fubjecled  to  their  wIU.  Th*s  is. 
the  reafon  why  fo  many  cf  thofe  charters  abound  in  Cornwall.  The 
people  were  av^rfe  to  the  government  cdabliHied  at  the  conqued,  and 
the  towES  were  c^arrifoned  and  bribed  to  cnfiave  the  ccur.t:-\-.      AU. 


6S  PAINE' s    W  O  n  K  S. 

the  old  charters  are  the  badges  of  this  conqiicft,  and  it  is  from  thi^ 
fource  that  the  capricioufnefs  of  cleftioa  arifes. 

The  Freiidi  cor.flitation  fays,  that  the  number  of  reprefentat'ves 
for  any  place  ihall  be  in  a  ratio  to  the  number  of  taxable  inhabitants 
or  electors.  What  article  will  Mr.  Burke  place  againft  this  ?  The 
county  of  Yorkfhire,  which  contains  near  a  million  of  fouls,  fends 
two  county  members;  and  fo  does  the  county  of  Rutland,  vvliich  con- 
tains not  an  hundredth  part  of  that  number.  The  town  of  Old  Sa- 
nim,  which  co  itains  n(;t  three  houfes,  fends  two  members ;  and  the 
town  of  Mancheilcr,  which  contains  upwards  of  fixty  thoufand  fouls, 
is  not  admitted  to  fend  any.  Is  there  any  principle  in  thefe  things? 
Is  th.re  any  thing  by  which  you  can  trace  the  m.arks  of  freedom,  or 
difcover  thofe  cfwiidcm?  No  wonder  then  Mr.  Burke  has  declined 
the  comparifon,  and  endeavoured  to  lead  his  readers  from  the  point 
by  a  wild  un-yilematical  difplay  of  paradoxical  rhapfodies. 

The  Frc^nch  confli'^ution  fays,  that  the  national  affembly  fhall  be 
ele£led  every  two  years.  What  article  will  Mr.  Burke  place 
againft  this  ?  Why,  th;it  tlie  naiion  has  no  right  at  all  in  the  cafe  : 
that  the  governm.ent  is  perfectly  arbitrsry  with  refptdt  to  tliis  point; 
and  he  ca;i  cuote  for  his  authoricv,  the  precedent  of  a  form.er  par- 
liament. 

The  French  conflitution  fays,  there  fhall  be  no  game  laws  ;  that 
the  farmer  on  whole  lands  wild  game  fhall  be  found  (for  it  is  by  the 
produce  of  thofe  lands  ihey  are  kd)  fhall  have  a  right  to  what  he.: 
can  take.  ThaL  there  fliall  be  no  monopehes  of  any  kind — that  all 
trades  fliall  be  free,  and  every  man  free  to  follow  any  occupation  by 
which  he  can  procure  an  lioneli  liveKhcod,  and  in  any  place,  town  or 
city  throughout  the  nation.  What  will  Mr.  Burke  fay  to  thi^  ?  In 
England,  game  is  made  the  property  of  thofe  at  whofe  expence  it  is 
not  fed ;  and  with  refpedl  to  monopolies,  the  country  is  cut  up  into 
monopolies.  Every  chartered  town  is  an  ariflocratical  m.onopoly  ni 
itfelf,  and  the  qualihcalion  of  ekaors  proceeds  cut  of  thufe  chartered 
monopohes.  Is  thi^  freedom  ?  Is  this  what  Mr.  Burke  m.eans  by  a 
conflitution. 

In  thefe  chaitered  monopolies,  a  man  coming  from  another  part 
of  the  country,  is  hunted  from  them  as  If  he  were  a  foreign  enemy. 
An  En-lifliman  is  not  free  of  his  own  country:  every  one  of  thofe 
places  prefents  a  barrier  in  his  way,  and  tells  him  he  is  not  a  freeman 
1-that  he  has  no  rights.  Within  thefe  monopolies,  are  other  mono- 
polies. In  a  city,  fl^.ch  for  inilance  as  Bath,  which  contains  between 
<:wcnty  and  thirty  thoufand  inhabitants,  the  right  of  ekaing  reprc- 


RIGHTS    OF    MA  N.  6f 

fentativcs  to  parliament  is  monopolifecl  Into  about  thirty-one  perfons. 
And  within  thefe  monopolies  are  ftill  others.  A  mun  eveii  of  the 
fame  town,  whofe  parents  were  not  in  circumftances  to  givehin:^  an 
occupation  is  debarred,  in  many  cafes,  from  the  natural  right  of  ac- 
quiring one,  be  his  genius  or  induftry  what  it  may. 

Are  thefe  things  examples  to  hold  out  to  a  country  regenerating^ 
itfelf  from  ilavery,  like  France? — Certainly  they  are  not;  and  certaia 
am  I,  thai  when  the  people  of  England  come  to  refle^l  upon  them, 
they  will,  like  France,  annihilate  thofe  badges  of  ancient  opprcffion, 
thofe  traces  of  a  conquered  nation. — Had  Mr.  Burke  poifcfied  ta- 
lents limilar  to  the  auihcr  "  On  the  Wealth  of  Nations,"  he  would 
have  comprehended  all  the  parts  which  enter  into,  and,  by  afiemxblage, 
form  a  conftitution.  He  would  have  reafoned  from  minutice  to  mag- 
nitude. It  is  not  from  iiis  prejudices  only,  but  from  the  disorderly 
call  of  hi-s  genius,  that  he  is  unfitted  for  the  fubje^t  he  writes  upon. 
Even  his  genius  is  without  a  conftitution.  It  is  a  genius  at  random, 
a:"id  not  a  genius  conftituted.  Bui  he  muft  fay  fomething — He  has 
therefore  mounted  In  the  air  like  a  balloon,  to  draw  the  eyes  of  the 
multitude  fr6m  the  ground  th^y  (land  upon. 

Much  Is  to  be  learned  from  the  French  conftitution.  Conqueft 
and  tyranny  tranfplanted  therr.f^lves  with  William  the  conqueror  from 
Normandy  into  Eugland,  and  the  country  is  yet  diofigured  with  the 
irarks.  Mav  then  the  example  of  all  France  contribute  to  regene- 
rate the  freedom  which  a  province  of  it  deftroyed  ! 

The  French  conftitution  fays.  That  to  preferve  the  national  re- 
prefentation  from  being  corrupt,  no  member  of  the  national  afTembly 
iliall  be  an  ofBcer  of  the  government,  a  place-man,  or  a  penfioner. — 
What  will  Mr.  Burke  place  againft  this?  1  will  whifper  his  anfwer: 
Loaves  and  Jj/hes.  Ah !  this  government  of  loaves  and  firnes  has 
more  mifchief  in  it  than  people  have  yetreflefted  on.  The  national 
aifembly  has  made  the  difcovery,  and  It  holds  out  the  example  to  the 
world.  Had  governments  agreed  to  quarrel  on  purpofe  to  fleece 
their  countries  by  taxes,  they  could  not  have  fucceeded  better  than 
they  have  done. 

Every  thing  in  the  Englifti  government  appears  to  me  the  reverfc 
of  what  it  ought  to  be,  and  of  what  it  is  fald  to  be.  The  parliament, 
imperfeclly  and  capricioufly  elefted  as  It  is,  is  neverthelefs  fuppofcd 
to  hold  the  national  purfe  m  tnijl  for  the  nation  :  But  In  the  manner 
'\\\  which  an  Englifli  parliament  Is  conftrufted,  it  Is  like  a  man  being 
both  mortgager  and  mortgagee;  and  In  the  cgie  of  mifapplieatlon 
«f  triift,  it  is  the  criminal  fitting  in  judgm.ent  upon  himfclf.     I:  thofe 


>7b  P  A  I  N  E  '  s    W  O  R  K  S. 

T\'ho  Totc  llie  fupplies  are  the  fame  perfons  who  receive  the  fiipphcs 
when  voted,  and  are  to  account  for  the  expenditure  of  thofc  fupplies 
to  thofe  who  voted  them,  it  is  themfel'ues  accountable  to  themfelves,  and 
the  Comedy  of  Errors  conchides  with  the  pantomime  of  Hnjh.  Nei- 
ther  the  minifterial  party,  nor  the  oppofiticn,  will  touch  upon  this 
cafe.  The  national  purfe  is  the  common  hack  which  each  mounts 
upon.  It  is  like  what  the  country  people  call,  "  Ride  and  tie-^ 
You  ride  a  little  way,  and  then  1."* — They  order  thefe  things  better 
in  France. 

The  French  conilitiuion  fays,  that  the  right  of  war  and  peace  is 
in  the  nation.  Where  clfe  fhould  it  rende,  but  in  thofe  who  are  to 
pay  the  expence  ? 

In  England,  this  right  is  faid  to  refide  in  a  jnefaphor,  fliewn  at  the 
Tower  for  fix-pence  or  a  Ihilling  a-piece,  fo  are  the  lions  ;  and  it 
would  be  a  Hep  nearer  to  reafon  to  fay  it  refided  in  them,  for  any 
inanimate  metaphor  is  no  more  than  a  hat  or  a  cap.  We  can  all  fee 
the  abfurdlty  of  wcrfhipping  Aaron'^s  raclton  calf,  or  Nebuchad- 
nezzar's golden  imr.ge  ;  but  why  do  men  continue  to  praclife  in 
themfclves,  the  abfurdities  they  defpife  in  others  ? 

It  may  with  reafon  be  faid,  that  in  the  manner  the  Englifh  iration 
is  reprefented,  it  fignifies  not  where  this  right  refides,  whether  in  the 
crown  or  in  the  parliament.  War  is  the  common  harvefl:  of  all  thofe 
.  who  participate  in  the  divifion  and  expenditure  of  public  money,  in 
all  countries.  It  is  the  art  oi  ccnquer'ivg  at  home:  the  objecb  of  it  is 
an  increafe  of  revenue  j  and  as  revenue  cannot  be  increafed  without 
taxes,  a  pretence  m.ifi  be  made  for  expenditures.  In  reviewing  the 
hiftory  of  the  Englifh  government,  its  wars  and  its  taxes,  a  ftander- 
•  by,  not  bhnded  by  prejudice,  not  warped  by  interefl,  would  declare, 
that  taxes  were  not  raifcd  to  carry  on  wars,  but  that  wars  were  raifed 
to  carry  on  taxes. 

Mr.  Burke,  as  a  member  of  the  houfe  of  commons,  is  a  part  of  the 
E/iglifh  government  ;  and  though  he  profeffes  himfelf  an  enemy  to 
war,  he  abufes  the  French  conllitution,  v/hich  feeks  to  explode  it. 
He  holds  up  the  Englifh  government  as  a  model  in  all  its  parts,  to 

*  //  Is  a  praBice  In  fame  ports  of  the  country,  nvhen  tavo  travellers 
have  but  one  hcrfe,  tvh'ich Ms  the  national  pttrfe  'will  not  carry  double, 
that  the  one  mounts  and  rides  tii'O  cr  three  miles  a-head,  and  then  ties  Hjc 
horfe  to  a  gate,  and 'walks  on.  When  the  fecond  tra'ueller  arrives,  he 
takes  the  horfe,  rides  on,  and paffes  his  companion  a  wMe  or  ioi'O,  and  ties 
Mgain  i  andfo  en — Rids  and  tie. 


RIGHTS     OF    Mx\N.  7^^ 

"B^rance  ;  but  he  fhould  firfl  know  tl*e  remarks  which  the  French  make 
upon  it.  They  contend,  in  favour  of  their  own,  that  the  portion  of 
liberty  enjoyed  in  England,  is  juft  enough  to  enflave  a  country  by, 
more  productively  than  by  defpotifm  ;  and  that  as  the  real  object  of 
a  dcfpotifm  is  revenue,  that  a  government  fo  formed  obtains  more 
than  it  could  either  by  direcl  defpotifm,  or  in  a  full  ftate  of  freedom, 
and  is,  therefore,  on  the  ground  of  intereft,  oppofed  to  both.  They 
r.ccount  alfo  for  the  readinefs  which  always  appears  in  fuch  govern- 
ments for  engaging  in  wars,  by  remarking  on  the  different  motives 
which  produce  them.  In  delpotic  governments,  wars  are  the  effefts 
of  pride  ;  but  in  thofe  governments  in  which  they  become  the  means 
of  taxation,  they  acquire  thereby  a  more  permanent  promptitude. 

The  French  conftitution,  therefore,  to  provide  ag:;intl  both  thofe 
evils,  has  taken  av/ay  the  power  of  declaring  war  from  kings  and 
miniftcrs,   and  placed  the  right  where  the  expence  mufl  fall. 

When  the  queftion  on  the  right  of  v^^ar  and  peace  was  agitating  in 
the  national  affembly,  the  people  of  England  appeared  to  be  much 
interefted  in  the  event,  and  higlily  to  applaud  the  decifion. — As  a 
principle,  it  applies  as  much  to  one  country  as  to  another.  V/Illiam 
the  conqueror,  as  a  conqueror,  held  this  power  of  war  and  peace  iq, 
himfelf,  and  his  defcendants  have  ever  £v:.cq^  claimed  it  as  a  right. 

Although  Mr.  Burke  has  afferted  the  right  of  parliament  at  the 
levolution  to  bind  and  control  the  nation  and  pofterity  for  ever,  he 
denies,  at  the  fame  time,  that  the  parliament  or  tlie  nation  had  any 
right  to  altei*  what  he  calls  the  luccefiion  of  the  crown,  in  any  thing 
but  in  part,  or  by  a  fort  of  modification.  By  his  taking  this  ground, 
he  throws  the  cafe  back  to  the  Normati  conqmjl  ;  and  iby  thus  run- 
ning a  line  of  fucceflion  fpringing  from  William  the  conqueror  to  the 
prefent  day,  he  makes  it  neceiTary  to  enquire  who  and  what  William 
the  conqueror  was,  and  where  he  came  from  :  and  into  the  origin, 
hiftory  and  nature  of  what  are  called  prerogatives  Every  thing  muft 
have  had  a  beginning,  and  the  fog  of  time  and  antiquity  fhould  be 
penetrated  to  difcover  it.  Let  then  Mr,  Burke  bring  forward  his 
Wilham  of  Norm.andy,  for  it  is  to  this  origin  that  his  argument 
goes.  It  alfo  unfortunately  happens,  in  running  this  line  of  fuc- 
cefTion,  that  another  line,  parallel  thereto,  prefents  itfelf,  which  is, 
that  if  the  fuccefTion  runs  in  the  hne  of  the  conqueft,  the  nation  runs 
in  the  hne  of  being  conquered,  and  it  ought  to  refcue  itfelf  from  this 
reproach. 

But  it  vrill  perhaps  be  faid,  that  though  the  power  of  declariog 
war  defcends  into  the  heritage  of  the  conqued,  it  is  held  in  check  by 


72  T  A  I  N  E  '  3    W  O  R  K  5. 

the  right  ot  the  parliament  to  withhold  the  fupplies.  It  will  always 
happen,  when  a  thing  is  originally  wrong,  that  amendments  do  not 
make  it  right,  and  it  often  happens  that  they  do  as  mAich  miichief 
one  way  as  good  the  other  :  and  fuch  is  the  cafe  here,  for  if  the 
one  raflily  declares  war  as  a  nratter  of  nght,  and  the  other  peremp- 
torily withholds  the  fupplies  as  a  matter  of  right,  the  remedy  becomes 
as  bad  or  worfe  than  the  difeafe.  The  one  forces  the  nation  to  a 
combat,  and  the  other  tics  its  hands  :  But  the  more  probable  iffiie  is, 
that  the  contrail  will  end  in  a  collufion  between  the  parties,  and  be 
Hiade  a  fcreen  to  both. 

On  this  queftion  of  war,  three  thincrs  are  to  be  confidercd.  Firft, 
The  right  of  declaring  it  :  Secondly,  The  expence  of  fupporting  it  : 
Thirdly,  The  mode  of  ccnduding  it  after  it  is  ceclared.  The  French 
conftitution  places  the  rig/?i  where  the  expence  mud  fall,  and  this 
union  can  be  only  in  the  nation.  The  mode  of  conducting  it  after  . 
it  is  declared,  it  configns  to  the  executive  department. — Were  this 
the  cafe  in  all  countries,  we  fliould  hear  but  little  more  of  wars. 

Before  T  proceed  to  ccnfider  other  parts  of  the  French  conftitu- 
tion, and  by  way  of  reliev'ng  the  fatigue  of  argument,  I  will  intro- 
duce an  anecdote  which  I  had  from  Dr.  Franklin. 

While  the  Doftor  refided  in  France  as  minifter  from  America, 
during  the  war,  he  had  numerous  prcpofals  m.?de  to  him  by  pro- 
jectors of  every  country  and  of  every  kind,  who  wiilied  to  go  to  the 
land  that  floweth  with  milk  and  honey,  America  ;  and  among  the 
reft,  there  was  one  v.ho  offered  h;mielf  to  be  kinr.  He  introduced 
his  propofal  to  the  Doctor  by  letter,  which  is  now  in  the  hands  of 
M.  Be-umarchais,  of  P;n-is — ftaring,  firft,  thrt  as  the  Americans  had 
difmilTed  or  fent  away*  their  king,  that  they  would  want  another. 
Secondly,  that  hin^fclf  was  a  Norman.  Thirdly,  that  he  was  of  a 
more  ancient  fiimily  than  the  dukes  of  Ncnr>andy,  and  of  a  more 
honourable  defcent,  his  line  having  never  been  baftardized.  Fourthly, 
that  there  was  already  a  precedent  in  England,  of  kings  coming  cut 
of  Normandy  :  And  on  thefe  grounds  he  refted  his  offer,  evjohurf^ 
that  the  Dodor  would  forward  it  to  America.  But  as  the  Doclor 
did  not  do  this,  nor  yet  fend  him  an  anfwer,  the  projeclor  wrote  a 
fecond  letter ;  in  which  he  did  not,  it  is  true,  threaten  to  go  over 
and  conquer  America,  but  only,  with  great  dignity,  propofcd  that  if 
his  offer  was  not  accepted,  that  an  acknov.ledgm.ent  of  about 
£.  30,000   might  be  made  to  him  for  his  genercfity  !      New,  as  all 

*    The  word  he  ujl-u  zuas  renvoye,  dlfmijed  ci- fait  azvay. 


RIGHTS     OF     MA  N.  71 

argumcjits  rcfpcding  iuccciTion  muft  neceffanly  conneft  that  fucctf- 
fioa  with  fome  begi:nung,Mr.  Burke's  argumei^ts  on  this  fubje6l  go 
to  fhcvv,  that  there  is  no  Engiilh  origin  of  kings,  and  that  they  are 
dffccndants  of  the  Norman  Vine  in  right  of  the  conqiu;!!.  It  may 
therefore  be  of  fervice  to  his  dcftrine  to  m^kc  this  ilory  known,  and 
to  inform  hi.T,,  that  in  cafe  of  that  natural  exLiuclioii  to  which  all 
mortahty  is  fubjecl,  that  kings  n:ay  again  be  had  from  Normandy, 
on  more  reafonable  terms  than  Wilh'am  the  conqueror  i  and  confe- 
qiiently,  that  the  good  people  of  England,  at  the  revolution  of  i683, 
might  have  done  much  better,  had  inch  a  gerierous  Norman  as  //v'i' 
known  delr  wants,  and  they  had  known  his.  The  chivah-y  characler 
which' Ivlr.  Burke  fo  niuch  adm.ires,  is  certainly  much  eafici  to  make 
a  baro-ain  with  than  a  hard-dealinr'*  Dutchman.  I3ut,  to  return  to 
the  matters  of  the  conflitution — 

Tiie  French  coniiitution  f:'.ys,  There  fiall  he  no  iliJes  ;  and  of  con- 
fequence,  all  that  clafs  of  equivocal  generation,  which  in  fome  coun- 
tries is  called  "  ariflocracy,''  and  in  others  "  nollliiy^'  is  done  away, 
and  the  pscr  is  exaked  into  man. 

Titles  are  but  nick-names,  and  every  nick-name  is  a  title.  The 
thing  is  perfectly  harmlefs  in  itfelf,  but  ic  marks  a  fort  of  foppery  in 
the  human  charader  which  degrades  it.  It  renders  man  into  the  di- 
minutive  of  man  in  things  which  are   crreat,  and  the  counterieit    of 

o  o 

woman  in  thino-g  which  are  little.  It  talks  about  its  fine  blue  riband 
hke  a  girl,  and  fhews  its  ntw  ■  garter  ]iik't '2.  child.  A  certain  writer, 
of  fome  antiquity,  fays,'  "  When  1  whs  a  child,  1  thought  as  a  child  ; 
"  but  when  I  became  a  man,  I  piit  away  childiili  things." 
'  It  is,  properly,  from  the  elevated  mind  of  FtariJC^  that  the  folly  of 
titles  have  fallen.  It  has  outgrowr»  the  baby-clothe?  of  ctiint  2.116.  diikey 
and  breeched  itfelf  in  mannhood.  France  has  not  levelled,  It  has  ex- 
alted. It  has  put  down  the  dwarf  to  fct  up  the  man.  The^puny- 
ifm  of  a  fenfelefs  word  like  duke,  or  count  or  ear!^  has  ceafed  to  pleafe. 
Even  thofe  who  pofTeffed  them  have  difowntd  the  gibberifli,  and,  as 
they  outgrew  the  rickets,  have  defplfed  the  rattle.— The  genuine 
mind  of  man,  thirfting  for  its  native  home,  fociety,  contemns  the  gew- 
gaws that  ieparate  him  from  it.  Titles  are  like  circles  drawn  by  the 
magician's  wand,  to  contract  tlic  fplure  of  man*s  felicity.  He  lives 
immured  within  the  Baftile  of  a  word,  and  furveys  at  a  diHance  the 
envied  life  of  man. 

Is  it  then  any  wonder  that  titles  fliould  fall  in  France?  Is  it  not  a 
greater  wonder  they  fliould  be  kept  up  any  where  ?  What  are  they? 
What  is  their  worth,  and  *'  what  is  their  amountj"'  Wh'Cti  we  think 
Vol.  II.  L 


74  PAIxNE'3     WORKS, 

or  fpeak  cU  judge  or  ^grnrral,  we  affoci'ate  with  it  the  ideas  of  ofHce 
and  charadler  ;  we  think  of  gravity  in  the  one  and  bravery  in  the 
other:  but  when  we  ufe  a  word  merely  as  a  title,  no  ideas  afTociate 
with  it.  Through  all  the  vocabulary  of  Adam,  there  is  irot  fuch 
an  animal  as  a  duke  or  a  count ;  neither  can  we  conneft  any  certain 
idea  to  the  words.  Whether  they  mean  Ibrength  or  weaknefs,  wii- 
doni  or  foHy,  a  child  or  a  man,  or  a  rider  or  a  horfe,  is  all  equivocal. 
What  refpedt  tlien  can  be  paid  to  that  which  defcribes  nothing  and 
wnieh  means  nothing?  Imapination  has  jriven  fisfure  and  character  to. 
centaurs,  fatyrs,  and  down  to  all  the  fairy  tribe ;  btit  titles  baffle  even 
the  powers  of  fancy,  and  are  a  chimerical  non-defcript. 

But  this  is  not  all — If  a  whole  country  is  difpofed  to  hold  them  in 
contempt,   all  their  value  is  gone,  and   none  will  ov/n  them.     It  is 
common    opinion  only  that  makes  them   any   thing  or  nothing,  or 
v.-oife  than  nothing.     There  is  no  occaiion  to  take  titles  away,   for 
tney   ta^ie   themfelves  av^^ay  when    fociety  concurs  to  ridicule  them* 
This  fpccies  oi:  imaginary  confequence  has  vifibly  dech'ned  in  every 
part  of  Europe,  and  it  hailens  to  its  exit  as  the  world  of  .reafon  con- 
tinues to  rife.     There  was  a  time  when  t?ic  lov/ell  clafs  of  xvhat  are 
called   nobility  was  mere  thauc;ht  of  than  the  hic-hcft  is   now,   and 
v/lien  a  mnn  in  armour  riding  throughout  Chriftendom   h\   queft  of 
adventures   v/as    more   i1:ared   at   than  a  modern  duke.     The  v/orld 
has  kan  this  folly  fall,  and  it  has  fallen  by  being  laughed  at,  and  the 
farce  of  titles  will  follow  its  fate.     Tlie  patriots  of  France  have  dif- 
covered  in  good  tim.c,  that  rank  and  dignity  in  fociety  muft  take  a 
new  ground.     The  old  one  has  fallen  through.      It  rauft  now  take 
tlie  Ribflantial  ground  of  character,  iniiead  of  the  chimerical  groynd 
of  titles;  and  they  have  brought  their  titles  to  the  altar,  and  m.adeof 
them  a  burnt-offering  to  reafon. 

If  no  mifcliief  liad  annexed  itfelf  to  the  folly  of  titles,  they  Vv'ould 
not  have  been  worth  a  ferious  and  formal  deftrudion,  fuch  as  the 
national  aiTembly  have  decreed  them. ;  and  this  makes  it  necefiar)-  to  en- 
quire further  into  the  nature  and  charafter  of  ariilocracy. 

That,  then,  which  is  called  ariilocracy  in  fome  countries,  and  no- 
bility in  others,  arofe  out  of  the  governments  founded  upon  con- 
que-l.  It  was  orginally  a  military  order  for  the  purpofe  of  fupporting 
military  government  (for  fuch  were  all  governments  founded  In  con- 
quell)  ;  and  to  keep  up  a  fucceHion  of  this  order  for  the  purpofe  for 
which  it  was  eilablifiied,  all  the  younger  branches  of  thofe  families 
were  difinherited,  "and  the  lav/  oi pnmogemturejlnp  fet  up. 

The  nature  and  characler  of  ariilocracy  fiiews  itfelf  to  us  m  this 


Ri  GHT  S     C  Fi   M  AN.  75 


^a^^.  'It  is  a  law  againft  eveiy  law  of  nature,  and  nature  herfelf  calls 
for  its  deftruftion.  Eftablifli  family  juilice  and  ariftocracy  falls.  By 
the  arlilocratical  law  of  priniogcnkureiliip,  in  a  family  of  fix  cliiklreu, 
five  are  expofed. — Ariliocracy  has  Jiever  but  one  child.  The  reft 
are  begDtten  to  be  devoured.  They  are  thrown  to  the  cannibal  for 
prey,   and  the  natural  parent  prepares  the  unnatural  repaft. 

As  every  thing  which  is  out  of  nature  in  man,  affc6ls,  more  or 
iefs,  the  intereft  offociety,  fo  does  this.  All  the  children  which  the 
ariftoci-acy  difowns  (which  are  all,  except  the  eldeft)  are,  in  general, 
call  like  orphans  on  a  parifh,  to  be  provided  for  by  the  public,  but  at 
a  greater  charge.  Unneceffary  offices  and  places  in  governments 
snd  courts  -are  created  at  the  expence  of  the  public  to  maintain 
them. 

With  what  kind  of  parental  refle6lions  can  the  father  or  mother 
contemplate  their  younger  offspring.  By  nature  they  arc  children, 
and  by  marriage  they  are  heirs ;  but  by  ariflocracy  they  are  ballards 
and  orphans.  Tlicy  are  the  ilefh  and  blood  of  their  parents  in  one 
line,  and  nothinpr  akin  to  them  in  the  other.  To  reftore,  therefore, 
parents  to  their  children,  and  children  to  their  parents — i  clations  to 
each  other,  and  man  to  fociety — and  to  exterminate  the  monfter 
Ariftocracy,  loot  and  branch — the  French  conflitution  has  dcflroyed 
the  law  oi prhnogenlturejh'ip.  Here  then  lies  the  monfter,  and  Mr. 
Burke,  if  he  pleafes,  may  write  its  epitaph. 

Hitherto  we  have  conlldered  ariftocracy  chiefly  in  one  point  of 
view.  We  have  now  to  confider  it  in  another.  But  whether  we 
view  it  before  or  behind,  or  fide-ways,  or  any  way  elie,  domeftically 
or  publicly,  it  is  flill  a  monfter. 

In  France,  ariftocracy  had  one  feature  Iefs  in  its  countenance  than 
what  it  has  in  fonie  other  coimtries.  It  did  not  compofe  a  body  of 
hereditary  legiflators.  It  w:is  not  "  a  corpGratlon  of  arijlocrnry,^^  for 
fuch  I  have  heard  M.  de  la  Fayette  defcribe  an  Englifli  houfe  of 
peers.  Let  us  then  examine  the  grounds  upon  wliich  the  French 
■conftitution  has  refolved  againft  having  fuch  an  houfe  in  France. 

Becaufe,  in  the  firft  place,  as  is  already  mentioned,  ariftccracy  is 
kept  up  by  family  tyranny  and  injuftice. 

Secondly,  becaufe  there  is  an  unnatural  unfitnefs  in  an  ariftocracy 
to  be  legiflators  for  a  nation.  Their  ideas  of  dUlrihuti've  jiji'ice  are 
corrxiptied  at  the  very  lource.  They  begin  life  by  trampling  on  all 
their  younger  brothers  and  fifters,  and  relations  of  ever)-  kind,  and 
are  taught  and  educated  fo  to  do.  With  what  ideas  of  jaftice  or 
kofiour  can  that  man  enter  an  houfe  cf  Icgiflation,  who  abforbs  in  his 


76  P  A  I  ::  E  '  s     V/  O  R  K  5. 

own  perfon  the  inheritance  of  a  whole  family  of  chilchen,  or  doles  out 
feme  pitiful  portion  with  the  infolence  of  a  gift  ? 

Thirdly,  becaufe  iht;  idea  of  hereditary  Icgiflators  is  as  inconfiftent 
as  that  of  hercdit?.ry  jadgcs,  or  hereditp.ry  juries;  and  as  abfard  as  an 
hereditary  marheinatioian,  or  an  hereditary  wife  man;  and  as  ridicn- 
lous  as  an  hereditary  poet-Iaureat. 

Fourthly,  becaufe  a  body  of  men  holding  themfelves  accountable 
to  nobody,  ouglit  not  to  be  trnfted  by  any  body. 

Fjfhly,  becuule  it  is  continuing  'die  uncivilized  principle  of  govern- 
ments founded  in  coriqutil,  and  the  bafe  idea  of  man  having  property  in 
man,  and  governing  him  by  perfonal  rig^ht. 

Sixthly,  becaufe  ariftocracy  has  a  tendency  to  degenerate  the  hu- 
man fpecies.  By  the  univerfal  economy  of  nature  it  is  known,  and 
by  the  Inllance  of  the  Jews  it  is  proved,  tt^.at  the  human  fpecies  has  a 
tendency  to  degenerate,  in  any  fmall  number  of  perions,  Vv'hen  fepa- 
rated  from  the  general  icock  of  fociety,  and  intermarrying  conllantly 
with  each  other.  It  defeats  even  its  pretended  end,  and  becomes  iu 
time  the  oppofrte  of  Vv'hat  is  noble  in  man.  Mr.  Burke  taLis  of 
riobility;  let  him  fiie-.v  what  it  is.  The  greatcfL  characters  the  world 
hdvc  known,  liave  rofe  on  ihe  democratic  floor.  AniJiocracy  has  not 
been  able  to  keep  a  proportionate  pace  with  democracy.  The  artificial 
7iol-!e  flirlnks  into  a  dwarf  before  the  noL'e  of  nature ;  and  in  the  few  in- 
flances  (for  there  are  fome  in  all  countries  J  in  whom  nature,  as  by  a 
miracle,  has  ilirvived  in  arillocracy,  //j-.Jl'  vien  ck/pijc  It.  But  it  is 
tin:e  to  proceed  to  a  new  fnbieci:. 

The  French  conftitution  lias  reformed  the  condition  of  the  clergy. 
It  has  raifed  the  income  of  the  lovv-er  and  middle  claffes,  and  taken 
from  the  higlier.  None  are  now  icfs  than  twelve  hundred  livres 
(hfty  pounds  fterling)  nor  any  higher  than  about  two  or  three 
thoufand  pounds.  What  will  I\Ir.  Burke  place  againfl  tiiis  I  Kear 
what   he  lays. 

He  fays,  "  that  the  people  of  England  can  fee,  without  pain  or 
*'  grudging,  an  archbiihop  precede  a  duke  ;  they  can  fee  a  birtioo 
**  of  Durham,  or  a  bifliop  of  \VincherLer,  in  pofleffion  of  ^.  io,cgo 
"  a-year  ;  and  cannot  fee  why  it  is  in  worfe  hands  than  efiates  to 
"  the  like  amount  in  the  hands  of  this  earl  or  that  'fquire."  And 
M-".  Burke  offers  this  as  an  cxam.ple  to  Faance. 

As  to  the  firft  part,  whetiier  the  arclibifhop  precedes  the  duke, 
or  the  duke  the  bifliop,  it  is,  I  believe,  to  the  people  in  general, 
fomcwhat  like  Stcrnhald  and  Hoj.k':ns,^^ox  Hoph'ws  and  Stcrnhoul ; 
you  may  put  which  you   })leafc  fide :  ,  Ar.d  as  I  ccnfefs  that    I  de> 


RIGHTS     OF    MAN.  77 

not  undcrftand  the  merits  of  this  C3.k,  I  will  TiOt  contend  it  v,'Ith  Mr. 
Burke. 

But  with  refped:  to  the  latter,  I  have  foniething  to  fay.  Tvfr. 
Burke  has  not  put  the  cafe  right.  The  ccmparifon  is  out  of  order 
fey  being  put  between  the  bifiiop  and  the  carl  or  the  'fquire.  It 
ought  to  be  put  between  the  biihop  and  the  curate,  and  th.en  it  will 
fland  thus  :  The  peoph  of  England  can  fee,  iv'ith out  pain  or  grudfing, 
Ci  kfJoop  f  Durham,  er  a  h'fJoop  of  Wlncheftcr,  in  pcffiffiun  of  ten  ihou- 
fand  l)aitnds  a-year,  and.  a  curate  on  thirty  or  forty  pounds  a-year,  or  hfs. 
No,  fir,  they  certainly  do  not  fee  thefe  things  without  great  pain  and 
grudging.  It  is  a  Cafe  that  applies  itfelf  to  every  man's  fenfe 
of  juftice,  and  is  one  among  many  that  calls  aloud  for  a  confti- 
tution. 

In  France,  the  cry  of  "  tb?  church!  the  church  /"  was  repeated 
as  often  as  in  Mr.  Burke's  book,  raid  as  loudly  as  when  the  diiTcn- 
ters'  bill  was  before  the  Englifh  parliament  ;  but  the  generality  of 
the  French  clergy  were  not  to  be  deceived  by  this  cry  any  longer. 
They  knew,  that  whatever  the  pretence  might  be,  it  was  them.felves 
who  were  one  of  the  principal  objects  of  it.  It  was  the  cry  of  the 
high  beneficed  clergy,  to  prevent  am^  regulation  of  income  taking 
place  between  thofe  of  ten  thoufand  pounds  a-year  and  the  parifii 
prieft.  They,  therefore,  joined  their  cafe  to  thofe  of  every  other 
■oppreffed  clafs  of  men,  and  by  this  union  obtained  redreis. 

The  French  conllitution  has  aboliihed  tithes,  that  fource  of  perpe- 
tual difcontent  betv/een  the  tilhe-holder  and  the  parillriontr.  When 
land  is  held  on  tithe,  it  is  in  the  condition  of  an  eilate  held  bctv/een 
two  parties  ;  the  one  receiving  one  tenth,  and  the  otlier  nine-tenths 
of  the  produce  :  And,  confcquently,  on  principles  of  equity,  if  tht 
eitate  can  be  improved,  and  made  to  produce  by  that  improvement 
double  or  treble  what  it  did  before,  or  in  any  other  ratio,  the  ex- 
pence  of  fuch  improvement  ought  to  be  borne  in  like  proportion  be- 
tween the  parties  who  are  to  fhare  the  produce.  But  this  is  not  the 
cafe  In  tithes  ;  the  farmer  bears  the  whole  expence,  and  the  tithe- 
holder  takes  a  tenth  of  the  improvement,  in  addition  to  the  original 
tenth,  and  by  this  means  gets  the  value  of  two  tenths  inftead  of  one. 
This  is  another  cafe  that  calls  for  a  conllitution. 

The  French  conllitution  hath  abolished  or  renounced  toleration,  and 
intoleration  alfo,  and  hath  eftabliihed  univeelsal  right  of  con- 
science. 

Toleration  is  not  the  oppof-te  of  intoleration,  but  h  the  counterfeit 
of  it.      Beth  are  dcfpotifms.     The  one  alfaraes  to  itfelf  the  right  of 


7^  V  A  I  N  E '  s    WO  R  K  S. 

"witliholding  liberty  of  confcicnce,  and  the  other  of  granting  it.  Tfi«r 
one  is  the  pope,  armed  with  fire  and  faggot,  and  the  other  is  the  pope 
fdh'ngor  granting  indulgences.  The  former  is  church  and  Rate,  and 
th-e  latter  is  church  and  traffic. 

But  toleration  may  be  viewed  in  a  much  Wronger  light.  Man 
wcrfliips  not  himfelf,  but  his  Maker  ;  and  the  liberty  of  confciencc 
\\'hich  he  claims,  is  not  for  the  fervice  of  himfelf,  but  of  his  God. 
In  this  cafe,  therefore,  we  mud  necefTarily  have  the  afTociated  idea 
of  two  beings  ;  the  mortal  who  renders  the  worfnip,  and  the  immor- 
tal BEING  who  is  worfliipped.  Toleration,  therefore,  places  itfelf, 
not  between  man  and  man,  nor  between  church  and  church,  nor  be- 
Iween  one  denomination  of  religion  and  another,  but  between  God 
and  man  ;  between  the  being  vi'ho  worfuips,  arid  the  being  who  is 
■worfliipped  ;  and  by  the  fame  act  of  affumed  authority  by  which  it 
tolerates  man  to  pay  his  worfhip,  it  prefum.ptuoufly  and  blafpliemoufly 
fets  up  itfelf  to  tolerate  the  Almighty  to  receive  it. 

Were  a  bill  brought  into  parliament,  entitled,  "  An  aa  to  tole- 
"  rate  or  grant  liberty  to  the  Almighty  to  receive  the  worfhip  of  a 
"  Jew  or  a  Turk,"  or  "  to  prohibit  the  Almighty  from  receiving 
*'  it,"  all  men  would  ftartle,  and  call  it  blafphemy.  There  would  be 
an  uproar.  The  prefumption  of  toleration  in  religious  matters 
would  then  prefent  itfelf  unmaflced  :  But  the  prefumption  is  not  the 
Icfs  becaufe  the  name  of  *'  man"  only  appears  to  thcfe  laws,  for  the 
EfTociated  idea  of  the  ^.vorfAppsr  and  the  ivorfi'ipped  cannot  be  fepa- 
rated. — Who,  then,  art  thou,  vain  dull  and  aflies  !  by  whatever 
r.ame  thou  art  called,  whether  a  king,  a  bifhop,  a  church  or  a  Hate, 
a  parliament  or  any  thing  elfe,  that  obtrudeft  thine  infignificanec 
between  the  foul  of  man  and  his  Maker  ?  Mind  thine  own  concerns. 
If  he  believes  not  as  thou  belie veft,  it  is  a  proof  that  thou  belie veft 
not  as  he  believeth,  and  there  is  no  earthly  power  can  determine  be- 
tween you. 

With  rcfpeft  to  what  are  called  denominations  of  religion,  if  every 
ftfic  is  left  to  judge  of  his  own  religion,  there  is  no  fuch  thing  as  a  re- 
ligifjn  that  is  wrong  ;  but  if  they  arc  to  judge  of  each  other's  reli- 
gion, there  is  no  fuch  thing  as  a  religion  that  is  right  ;  and  there- 
fore, all  the  world  are  right,  or  all  the  world  are  wrong.  But  with 
rcfpeft  to  religion  itfelf,  without  regard  to  names,  and  as  dire<3ing  it- 
felf from  the  univerfal  family  of  mankind  to  the  divine  objeft  of  all 
adoration,  //  h  man  hripying  to  his  Maker  the  fruits  of  his  heart ;  and 
though  thefe  fruits  m.ay  differ  from  each  other,  like  the  fniits  of  the 
earth,  the  grateful  tribute  of  every  one  is  accepted.  - 


RIGHTS     OF    MAN. 

A  bifnop  of  Durham,  or  a  bidiop  oFWincliefter,  or  tlie  Wn=iiurrmvjj^ 
who  heads  the  dukes,  will  not  refufe  a  tithe-ftieaf  of  wheat,  becaiife 
it  is  not  a  cock  of  hay  ;  nor  a  cock  of  hay,  becaufe  it  is  not  a  (heaf 
of  wheat  ;  nor  a  pi^,  becaufe  it  is  neither  the  one  nor  the  other  : 
But  thefe  fame  pcrfons,  under  the  figure  of  an  cftaWiHicd  cluircb, 
will  not  permit  their  Maker  to  receive  the  varied  tithes  of  man's  de- 
votion. 

One  of  the  continual  chorufcs  of  Mr.  Burke's  book  i^,  "  Church 
and  (late  ;"  he  does  nor  mean  fome  one  particular  church,  or  iorne 
one  particular  ftate,  but  any  church  and  fiate  ;  and  he  ufes  the  term 
as  a  general  figure  to  hold  forth  the  political  doclrine  of  always 
uniting  the  church  with  the  flate  in  every  country,  and  he  cenfures 
the  national  aiTembly  for  not  having  done  this  in  France.  Let  us 
beftow  a  few  thouglits  on  this  fabjcdt. 

All  religions  are  in  their  nature  mild  and  benign,  and  united  with 
principle9  of  morality.  They  could  not  have  made  profelytcs  at  firi{, 
by  profefiing  any  thing  that  was  vicious,  cruel,  perfecuting,  or  im- 
moral. Like  every  thing  elfe,  they  had  their  beginning  ;  and  they 
proceeded  by  perfuafion,  exhortation,  and  example.  How  then 
is  it  that  they  lofe  their  native  mildnefs,  and  become  mcroie  and  In- 
tolerant ? 

It  proceeds  from  the  connection  which  Mr.  Burke  reconimentls. 
By  engendering  the  church  with  the  flatc,  a  fort  of  mule  animal, 
capable  only  of  deilroying,  and  not  of  breeding  up,  is  produced, 
called.  The  Church  eJlahV-fifd  by  Laiv.  It  is  a  ftranger,  even  from 
Its  birth,  to  any  parent  mother  on  which  it  is  begotten,  and  whom 
\Ti  time  it  kicks  out  and  deilroys. 

The  inqulfition  in  Spain  does  not  proceed  from  the  religion  ori- 
ginally profelTed,  but  from  this  mule  animal,  engendered  between  the 
church  and  the  ftate.  The  burnings  \\\  Smithlield  proceeded  from 
the  fame  heterogeneous  produdion  ;  and  it  was  the  regeneration  of 
this  ftrange  anim.al  in  England  afterwards,  that  renewed  rancour  and 
irreligion  among  the  Inhabitants,  and  that  drove  the  people  called 
Quakers  and  Dllfenters  to  America.  Perfecution  Is  not  an  original 
feature  In  any  religion  ;  but  it  is  always  tlie  ftrongly-^marked  feature 
.of  all  law-religions,  or  rehglons  eftablirncd  by  lav.-.  Take  av%-ay  the 
law-eftabliihment,  and  every  religion  re-afiumes  its  original  benignity. 
In  America,  a  catholic  priefl;  Is  a  good  citizen,  a  good  chara<?Ler,  and 
a  good  neighbour  ;  an  epifcopahan  minifter  i,s  of  the  fiime  defcrip- 
tlon  :  And  this  proceeds,  independent  of  men,  from  there  beinr  no 
]3\v-eftabhfhment  m  America. 


So  PAINE's    V/ORKS. 

Ifalfo  we  view  this  matter  in  a  temporal  fenfe,  we  fnall  fee  the  ill 
Ciiects  it  has  had  on  the  profjjerlty  of  nations.  The  union  of  church 
and  ftate  has  Impoverifiied  Spain.  The  revoking  che  edi^  of  Nantz 
drove  the  filk  manufacliire  from  that  country  into  England  ;  and 
church  and  ftate  are  now  driving  the  cotton  manufacture  from  Eng- 
land to  America  and  France.  Let  then  Mr.  Burke  continue  to 
preach  his  anti -political  doftrine  of  church  and  ftate.  It  will  do  fomc 
good.  The  national  aiTcmbly  v/ill  not  follow  his  advice,  but  will  be- 
r.efit  by  his  folly.  It  was  by  obferving  the  ill  effects  of  it  in  Engk'ud, 
that  America  has  been  warned  againil  it  ;  and  it  is  by  experiencing 
thtm  in  France,  that  the  national  affembiy  have  aboliihed  it,  and,  like 
America,  has  eftabiifhcd  UNIVERSAL  RIGHT  OF  CONSCI- 
ENCE, AND  UNIVliRSAL  RIGHT  OF  CITIZENSHIP.* 

IV/sen  :n  any  coiiniry  -zucfce  extraordinary  c'trcuvifiancss  taking  place., 
they  naturally  lead  any  man  ^^ho  has  a  talent  for  olfervaticn  and  hivejll- 
gaiiortf  to  enquire  iiiio  the  cavfes.    The  manvfaclures  of  MaticheJIer,  Blr~ 
mingham,  and  Shejjuld,    are  the  mojl  prinapal  mamifaciures  in  England, 
Frcm  lohence  d'ld  ih'is   ar'ife  ?    A  little   ohfer'vation  ivill  explain  the  cafe. 
J  he  principal,   and  the  gener  alii y  cf  the  inh  alii  ants   of  thofe  places,    are 
not  of  'H'hat  is  called  in  England,  the  church  eilablifhed  by  law  ;    and 
they,  or  ihiir  fathers  (for  it  is  tuiihln  hut  a  fe-zv  years)  nvithdrerjj  from 
the  perfecution  cf  the  chartered  toivns,   ijuhere  iejl-laivs    more  particu- 
larly operate,  a^id  cjlahlfhed  a  fort  of  afylurn  for  then  fives  in  thofe  places. 
It  fiuas  the  only  cfylum  that  then  offered,  for  the  rfl  of  Europe  was  ivorfe.  . 
But  the  cafi'  is  no-w  chani'inv.      France  and  /hnerica  hid.  all  comers  ivel- 
come,  Gn4  irdtiaie  them  ir^tc  ail  the  7-ighis  of  ci{i%erjhip.      Policy  and  intC" 
3^,  therefore,  ivill,  lut  perhaps  too  late,  dictate  in  E^ngland,  nvhat  reafon, 
and  jnjlice  could  not.      Thofe  manifaciurc-  are  tviihdraiving,  and  are 
arifng  in  other  places.      There  is  voiu  crcUing  at  Pa  fey,  thnce  miles  from 
Paris,   a  large  cotton  mill,  and  fveral  are  already  erected  in  America. 
Soon  after  the  rejecting  the  hill  for  repealing  the  tejl-la^v,  one  of  the  rich  ft 
manufadurers  in  England f aid  in  my  hearing,  '*  England,   Sir,   is  not  a 
**  country  for  a  dijfenter  to  live  in — ■zee  nU'jl  go  to  Franced'*      Thefc  are 
truths,  and  it  is  doing jvflice  to  both  parties  to  tell  them.      It  is  chiefly  thje 
difjenteri  that  Jmve  carried  Engliflj  manufaElures   to   the  height  they  are 
uonv  at,  and  the  fame  men  have  it  in  their  po-Tver  to  carry  them  atuay  ;  and 
though  thofe  manufaciurts  ivould  afternvards  continue  to  he  made  in  thofe 
places,  the  foreign  marhet  ivill  he  lofl.     There  are  frequently  appearing  in 
the  London  Gazette,  cxiratts  from  certain  a^ls  to  prevent  machines,   and 
as  far  as  it  can  extend  to  per  fans,  from  going  cut  of  the  country.     It  ap- 


RIGHT  3     OF    MAN.  8t 

I  will  here  ccaft:  the  compan'foii  with  rtfpcft  to  the  principles  of 
the  French  conflitution,  and  conclude  t'lis  part  of  the  fubjeft  with  a 
few  obfervations  on  the  organization  of  the  formal  parts  of  the  1  rench 
anr^  Englifh  governments. 

The  execiiiive  power  in  each  couinty  is  in  the  hands  of  a  perfon 
ftyled,  the  khyr  ;  but  the  French  conilitution  d'ilingi-ii^^s  iDetwceii 
the  kinj  and  the  fj^ereig-n  :  It  confiders  the  ilation  cf  king  as  oui- 
ciai,  aad  pl:ic  3  ■"•.^jreignty  in  the  nation. 

The  rcpi'^fentatives  of  the  nation,  which  compofe  the  national 
airen:ibly,  and  who  are  the  legifiative  power,  originate  in  and  from 
the  people  by  tledion,  as  an  iiilierent  rig]:!t  in  the  people.  In  Eng- 
land it  is  otherwise;  and  this  arifcs  froin  the  original  eftablifliment  of 
what  is  called  its  motiarchv;  for,  as  bv  the  conoueft  all  the  rights  of 
the  people  or  the  nation  were  abforbcd  into  tlie  haiids  of  the  con- 
queror, a'.id  who  added  tlie  title  of  hing  to  that  of  conqueror,  thofe 
farne  matters  which  in  France  are  now  held  as  rights  in  the  people, 
or  in  the  nation,  are  held  in  England  as  grants  from  what  is  called 
the  crown.  The  pa^h'ament  in  England,  in  both  its  branches,  was 
erjftid  bv  patents  from  the  defcendaats  of  the  conqucior.  The 
houfe  of  commons  did  not  origi.iate  as  a  matter  of  right  in  the  pco- 
2)le,  to  delegate  or  ele^t,  but  as  a  grant  or  boon. 

By  the  French  conflitntion,  the  nation  is  always  named  before  the 
kino-.  The  third  article  of  the  declriration  of  rip;htG  favs,  '*  The  na- 
tion  is  ejfenhally  the  fouvce  (or  fouiuain)  of  all /(roerc'igntyy  Mr.  Burke 
argues,  that,  in  England,  a  king  is  the  fountain — that  he  is  the 
fouatain  of  all  honour.  But  as  this  idea  is  evidently  defcended 
from  the  conquell,  I  fiiall  make  no  other  remark  upon  it  than  that  it 
i*;  the  nature  of  conqueft  to  turn  every  thing  upfide  down  ;  and  as 
Mr.  Burke  will  not  be  refufed  the  privilege  of  fpeaking  twice,'  and 
as  thtre  are  but  two  parts  in  the  figure,  \\\t  fountain  and  ^\\q  fpoiit^  he 
will  be  ri'^ht  the  feccnd  time. 

The  French  conttitution  puts  the  legifiative  before  the  executive ; 
the  law  before  the  king ;  La  hi,  k  re/.     This  alfo  is  in  the  natural  or- 

pecus  from  thefe,  that  the  ill  effects  of  the  ieJI-Iazvs  and  church-eftahlfJ}* 
vdint  begin  to  he  much  fufieclcd ;  but  the  remedy  of  force  can  ne^uer  fnpp^y 
the  remedy  of  reafon.  In  the progrefs  of  Itfs  than  a  century,  all  the  unre» 
prefenfed part  of  England,  of  all  denominations,  tvhich  is  at  Icajl  a  hun^ 
dred  ti>nes  the  mojl  numerous,  may  begin  to  feci  the  necejjity  cf  a  conjlitu-' 
tion,  and  then  all  thofe  matters  "jjHI  come  regularly  before  tl.em. 
Vol.   II.  M 


32  PAINE' s     \vORKS. 

der  of  tilings  5  becaufe  laws  muilhave  exiilcncc:,  before  they  can  have 


execution. 


A  king  in  France  docs  not,  in  addrefling  himfc4f  to  the  national 
alTembly,  fay,  ''  my  afTcnibly,"  fimilar  to  the  phvafe  ufsd  in  England 
of  "  my  parliament ;"  neither  can  he  life  it  confilient  with  the  conib- 
tution,  nor  could  it  be  admitted.  There  may  be  propriety  in  the  uie 
of  it  in  England, -becaufe  as  is  before  mentioned,  both  houfes  ot 
parharnent  originated  out  of  what  is  called  the  crown,  by  patertt 
or  boon — and  not  cut  of  the  inherent  rights  of  the  ])eople,  as  the 
r.r^cional  alTembiy  does  in  France,  and  wlv^re  name  delignates  its 
origin. 

Trie  prefident  of  the  national   aiTembly  does   not  ailc  the  king  io 
gran:  to\he  ajjlirmy  Uhsrty  offpeech,  as  is  the  cal^  with  the   EnghHi 
houfe  of  commons.     Tiie  conilitutional  dignity  of  the  national  af- 
fembb^cannot  dybafc  itfelf.      Speech  is,  m  the  firft:  place,  one  of  the 
natural,  rights  of  man,  alv/ays  retained;  and  with  rcfpcft  to.  the  nati- 
onal aiiemhly,  the  uie  of  it  is  their  didy,   and  the  nation  is  their  au- 
thority..    They  were  elefted  by  the  greateil  body  of  men  exercifing 
the  right  of  election  the  European  world  ever  faw.     They  fprung  not 
from  the  fil-h  of  rotten  borouglis,  ncr  are  they  the  vaiTal  reprefen- 
tatives  of  ariiiocratical  ones.      Feeling  the  proper  dignity  of  their 
chciradler,  they  fupport  it.      Their  parliamentary  language,  whether 
lor  or  a^-ainft  a  queilion,  is  free,  bold,  and  manly,  and  extends  to  all    . 
the  parts  and  circnmilanccs  of  the  cafe.      If  any  m.atter  or  fubje^l 
refpefting  the  executive  department,   or  the  perfon  who  prefides  in 
it  (the  kin'^),  comes  before  them,  it  is  dcbnted  on  with  the  ipirit 
of  men,  and  the  language  of  gentlemen  ;   and  their  anfwer,  or  their 
addrefs,  is  returned  in  the  far^-  ilyle.      They  ftand  not  aloof  with  the 
gapino-  vacuity  of  vulgar  ignoiance,  nor  bend  with  the  cringe  of  fy- 
cophantic  infignificance.     The  graceful  pride  of  trutl.  knows  no  ex- 
tremes   and  ':referves,  in  every  latitude  or  hfe,  the  right  angled  cha- 
racter of  man. 

Let  us  novv'  look  to  the  other  fide  of  the  r^ueilion.  In  the  addrcHes 
of  the  Euf^liPn  parliaments  to  their  kings,  we  fee  neither  the  intrepid 
fpirit  of  the  Hd  parliaments  of  Fraroje,  nor  the  ferene  dignity  of  the 
prefent  national  afiem.bly  ;  neither  do  we  fee  in  them  any  thing  of  the 
ilvle  of  EntdiHi  mannerr,  T»'hich  borders  fomtwhat  on  blantneis. 
Since  then  they  are  neither  of  foreign  extraftion,  nor  naturally  of 
Eiip-lifn  produiSlior,  th.eir  origin  mull  be  fought  for  elfcwhere,  and 
that  orio-in  Is  .the  Norman  conqueft.  They  are  evidently  of  the  vaf- 
falage  clafi  cf  manners,  and  emphatically  mark  tlie  proilvate  diftance 


RIGHTS     OF     M  A  N.  8  j 

tliatexifls  in  no  other  condition  of  nnen  limn  between  tLe  conqueror 
and  the  conquered.  That  this  vafTalage  id^a  and  ftyle  of  fpeakmg 
was  not  got  rid  of,  even  at  the  revohition  rf  iv^BB,  is  evident  from 
the  declaration  of  parliament  to  William  and  Mary,  in  thefe  words  : 
«  We  do  mofl  humbly  and  faithfally  /l'<5/w//  ourfelves,  our  heirs  and 
*^  pofterity  for  ever/'  Siibmiffion  is  wholly  a  vaffalage  term,  repug- 
nant to  the  dignity  of  freedom,  and  an  echo  of  the  language  ufed  at 
the  conqueil. 

As  the  ellimation  of  all  things  is  by  comparifon,  the  revolution  of 
1688,  however  from  circumilances  it  may  have  been  exalted  above 
its  value,  will  fmd  its  level.  It  is  already  on  the  wane,  eclipfed  by  the 
enlarging  orb  of  reafon,  and  the  iumincns  ve  volutions  cf  Ail^erica  and 
France.  In  kfs  than  another  century,  it  vail  go,  as  well  as  Mr. 
Burke's  labours,  «  to  the  fam.ily  vault  of  :CA  the  Capulets."  Man- 
kind will  then  fcarcely  believe  that  a  country  calling -itfelf  fi'ee,  would 
fend  to  Holland  for  a  man,  and  clothe  him  with  power,  on  purpofe 
to  put  themfelves  in  fear  of  him,  and  give  him  aln-soil:  a  million  fter- 
linp"  a-year  for  leave  to  J^il^jjiii  themfelves  and  tlieir  pofterity,  like 
bond-men  and  bond-women,  for  ever. 

But  there  is  a  truth  that  ought  to  be  made  known  :  I  have  had  the 
opportunity  of  feeing  it :  Which  is,  //'«/',  nofiultMaiuUng  appear a?iceSi 
there  is  not  any  defcription  of  men  that  dcjp]fe  raorarchy  Jo  ?r.uch  as  ccur- 
i:e'rs.  But  they  well  know,  that  if  it  were  feen  by  others,  as  it  is  feen 
by  them,  the  juggle  could  not  be  kept  up.  They  are  in  the  con- 
dition of  men  who  get  their  living  by  a  Ihow,  and  to  whom  the  folly 
of  that  fhow  is  fo  familiar  that  they  ridicule  it ;  but  were  the  au- 
dience to  be  mjade  as  wife,  in  this  refpeft,  as  themfelves,  there  would 
be  an  end  to  the  fnou^  and  the  prohts  with  it.  The  difference  be- 
tween a  republican  and  a  courtier  with  refpeft  to  monarchy  is,  that 
the  one  oppofes  monarchy  believing  it  to  be  fomcthing,  and  the 
other  laughs  at  it  knowing  it  to  be  nothing. 

As  I  ufed  fometimes  to  correfpond  with  Mr.  Burke,  believing  him 
then  to  be  a  man  of  founder  principles  than  his  book  fliews  him  to 
be,  I  wrote  to  him  kill  v/inter  from  Paris,  and  gave  him  an  account 
!iow  profperouijy  matters  were  going  on.  Among  other  fubjefts  in 
that  letter,  I  rdtrred  to  the  happy  fituation  the  national  alfembly 
were  placed  h  ;  that  they  had  taken  a  ground  on  which  their  moral 
duty  and  their  pohtical  interell  were  united.  They  have  not  to  hold 
out  a  langua,^e  which  they  do  not  beheve,  for  the  fraudulent  purpofe 
of  making  others  beheve  it.  Their  ftation  requires  no  artiiice  to  fup- 
port  it,  and  can  only  be  maintained  by  ejilightening  mankind.     It  is 


84  P  A  I  N  E  '  s    W  O  R  K  S. 

Hot  their  i'ntn-cft  to  cherjlli  ignorance,  but  to  diipel  it.  Tney  arc 
not  in  the  'cafe  of  a  n->?:iill;cnal  or  an  oppofition  party  in  England, 
who,  though  they  are  oppoied,  are  Hill  united  to  keep  up  the  com- 
mon inyftery.  The  national  anemblv  mud  thro\v  open  a  magazine 
of  light.  It  mud  fhev.-  man  the  proper  chara£lcr  of  man  ;  and  the 
nearer  it  can  bring-  him  to  that  flandard,  the  dronger  the  national 
alTembly  becomes. 

In  contemplatincr  the  French  conditution,  we  fee  in  it  a  rational 
order  of  things.  The  principles  harmonife  with  the  forms,  and  both 
with' their  oiigin.  It  may  perhaps  be  faid  as  an  excufe  for  bad  forms^ 
that  the  are  nothing  more  than  forms  ;  but  this  is  a  midake.  Forms 
grow  out  of  principles,  and  operate  to  ccntinue  the  principles  they 
grow  from.  It  is  impoffible  to  pra6Life  a  bad  form  on  any  thing  but 
a  bad  principle.  It  cannot  be  ingrafted  on  a  good  one ;  and 
wherever  the  forms  in  any  government  are  bad,  it  is  a- certain  indi- 
cation thjtt  the  principles  are  bad  alfo. 

I  will  here  finally  clofe  this  fubje6l.  I  began  it  by  remarking  tliat 
Mr.  Burke  had  •voluntcirV.-}  declined  going  into  a  comparifon  ot  the 
Enghrii  and  French  conditritions.  He  apologifes  (in  page  24J  )  for 
not  domg  it,  by  faying  that  he  had  not  time.  Mr.  Burke's  book 
was  upwards  of  eight  months  in  hand,  and  it  extended  to  a  volume 
<)f  three  hnndred  and  fifty-f;::  pages.  As  his  cm-ilTion  does  injury  to 
his  caufe,  his  apology  makes  it  worfe  5  and  men  on  the  Englifh  fide 
of  the  water  will  begin  to  confider,  whether  there  is  not  fome  radical 
defect  in  what  is  called  the  Englifii  conditution,  that  made  it  nccef-.; 
fary  in  Mr.  Burke  to  fupprefs  the  comparifon,  to  avoid  briiiging  it 
into  view. 

As  Mr.  Burke  has  not  written  on  co^ditution:'^,  fo  neither  has  he 
written  on  the  French  revolution.  He  gives  no  account  of  its  com- 
mencement or  its  progrefs.  He  only  expreiTes  his  wonder.  *'  it 
**  look%"  fays  he,  "  to  me  as  if  I  were  in  a  great  crifis,  not  of  the 
*'  affairs  of  France  alone,  but  of  all  Europe,  perhaps  of  more  than 
*'  Europe.  All  circumidances  taken  together,  tlie  French  revoki- 
*'  tion  is  the  mod  adoniihing  that  has  hitherto  happericd  in  the 
**  world." 

As  vv'ife  men  arc  adoniihed  at  foolifh  things,  and  other  people  at 
wife  ones,  I  knou*  not  on  which  ground  to  account  for  Mr.  Burke'^- 
adonifnment  ;  but  certain  it  is  that  he  does  not  undcrdand  the 
French  revolution.  It  has  apparently  burd  forth  like  a  creation 
from  a  chaos,  but  it  is  no  more  than  the  confequenee  of  a  mental  revo- 
lution  priorily  exiding  in  France.     The  mind   of  the   nation  ha^ 


RIGHTS     OF    MA  N.  ^5^ 

changed  tefore  hand,  and  the  new  order  of  things  has  natnrally  fol- 
lowed the  new  order  of  thoughts. — I  will  here,  as  concifelv  as  I  can, 
trace  out  the  cfi'owth  of  the  French  re%'olution,  and  mark  the  circuni- 
Ranees  that  have  contributed  to  produce  it. 

The  defpotifm  of  Louis  XIV.  united  with  the  gaiety  of  his  court, 
and  the  gaudy  oftentation  of  his  charafter,  had  fo  humbled,  and  at 
the  fame  time  io  fafcinatcd  the  mind  of  France,  that  the  people  ap- 
pear to  have  loll  all  fenfe  of  their  own  dignity,  in  contemplatin'/  that 
of  their  grand  monarch  :  And  tlie  whole  reign  of  Louis  XV.  re- 
markable only  for  weaknefs  and  effeminacy,  made  no  other  alteration 
than  that  of  fpreading  a  fort  of  lethargy  over  the  nation,  from 
which  it  file  wed  no  dlfpofition  to  rife. 

The  only  figns  which  appr^ared  of  the  fplilt  of  liberty  during  thofe 
periods,  are  to  be  found  in  the  writings  of  the  French  philofophers. 
Montelquieu,  prefident  of  the  parliam-ent  of  ourd'eaux,  went  as  far 
as  a  writer  under  a  defpotic  government  could  well  proceed  ;  and 
being  obliged  to  divide  himielf  between  principle  and  prudence,  his 
mind  often  appears  under  a  veil,  and  we  ought  to  give  him  credit  for 
more  than  he  has  expreffed. 

Voltaire,  who  was  both  the  batterer  and  fatyriil  of  defpotifm,  tock 
another  line.  His  forte  lay  in  cxpofing  and  ridiculing  the  fuperPci- 
tions  which  pricft-craft  united  with  ftate-craft  hr.d  interv,\)ven  with 
governments.  It  was  not  from  the  purity  of  his  principles,  or  his 
love  of  mankind  (for  fatire  and  pliilanthropy  are  not  naUirally  con- 
cordant) but  from  his  ilrong  capacity  of  fe-eing  folly  in  its  tnie  iliape, 
and  his  irrefillible  propenfity  to  expofe  it,  that  he  made  theft-  attacks. 
They  were  however  as  formidable  as  if  the  motives  had  been  vir-.iious  ; 
and  he  merits  the  thanks  rather  than  the  efteem  of  mankind. 

On  the  contrary,  we  hnd  in  the  writings  of  RoufFeau  and  Abbe 
Raynal,  a  lovelinefs  of  fentiment  in  favour  of  liberty,  that  excites 
rcfpeft,  and  elevates  the  human  faculties  ;  yet  liaving  raifed  thit 
animation,  they  do  not  dlrec'^  its  operations,  but  leave  tlv  mind  in 
love  vvrith  an  objeft,  without  defcribing  the  meai.s  of  poflliTing  it. 

The  writings  of  Quifne,  Turgot,  and  the  friends  of  thofe  authors, 
are  of  a  ferious  kind  ;  but  they  laboured  under  the  fame  diujdvantage 
with  Montefquieu  ;  thi:ir  vrricings  abound  with  moral  maxims  of  go- 
vernment, but  are  rather  dire^ed  to  economife  and  reform  the  admi- 
niftration  of  the  government,  than  the  government  itfelf. 

But  all  thofe  Avritings  and  many  others  had  their  weight  ;  and  by 
the  different  manner  in  which  they  treated  the  fubjeft  of  government, 
Montefquieu  by  his  "judgment  and  knowledge  of  laws,  Voltaire  by  his 


S<S  MAINE'S     WORKS. 

wit,  RouiTeau  and  Raynalby  their  animation,  and  Quifne  and  Turgot 
by  their  nK^ral.  maxims  and  fy Items  of  economy,  readers'  of  evei^-  clafs- 
met  with  fomething  to  their  taite,  and  a  fpirit  of  political  enquiry 
began  to  difFufe  itftif  through  the"  nation  at  the  time  the  difpiite  be- 
tween Englarrd  and  the  then  colonies  of  America  broke  cut. 
•  In  tlic  war  which  France  afterwards  engaged  in,  it  is  very  well 
known  that  the  nation  appeared  to  be  before  hand  with  the  French 
miniftry.  Euch  cf  ihern  had  its  view  :  But  thofe  views  were  diredied 
to  different  objeds;  the  one  fought  liberty,  and  the  other  retaliation 
on  England.  The  French  officers  and  foldiers  who  after  this  went 
to  Amt^rica,  were  eventually  placed  in  the  fchool  of  fi'eedom,  and 
learned  the  practice  as  well  as  the  principles  of  it  by  heart. 

As  it  vras  impoffible  to  feparate  the  military  events  wliicli  took 
]^Iace  in  America  from  the  principles  of  the  American  revolution,  the 
])ublicaticr.  of  thofe  events  in  France  neccffarily  connefted  themfelves 
\viih  the  principles  that  produced  them.  Many  of  the  fafts  were  in 
tliemfelves  principles;  fuch  as  the  declaration  of  American  indepen- 
dence, and  the  treaty  of  alliance  between  France  and  Am.erica,  which 
vecognifed  the  natural  rigriLs  of  m.an,  and  jiifLilied  refinance  to  6p- 
preflion. 

TliC  then  mi.rifter  of  France,  count  Vergennes,  was  not  the  friend 
of  America :  and  it  is  both  jufcice  and  gratitude  to  fay,  that  it  was  the 
queen  of  France  who  gave  the  caufe  of  Am.erica  a  fafhion  at  the 
French  court.  Count  Vergennes  was  the  perfonal  and  fecial  friend 
of  Dr.  Franklin;  and  the  Dodtor  had  obtained,  by  his  fenfible  grace- 
fulncf;.;,  a  fort  of  infuience  over  him  ;  but  with  refpeft  to  principles, 
count  Vergennes  vras  a  defpot. 

Tlie  fituation  of  Dr.  Franklin  as  minifler  from  America  to  France 
fiiould  be  taken  into  tlie  chain  of  circumftanccs.  The  diplomiatic 
charafter  is  of  itfelf  tlie  narrowed  fphere  of  fociety  that  nian  can  adl 
in.  I'i.  forbids  intercourfc  by  a  reciprocity  of  fufpicion  ;  and  a  dip- 
lom.atic  is  a  fort  of  unconnected  atom,  continally  repelling  and  re- 
pelled. Eut  this  was  not  the  cafe  with  Dr.  Franklin  :  He  was  not 
the  diplomatic  of  a  court,  but  of  MAN.  His  charafter  as  a  philo- 
fopher  had  been  long  Cilablifiied.  and  his  circle  of  fociety  in  France 
was  univcrfal. 

Count  Vergennes  refilled  for  a  confiderablc  time  the  publication 
of  the  American  conilitutions  in  I  ranee,  tranflated  into  the  French 
language  ;  but  even  in  this  he  was  obliged  to  give  way  to  public 
opinion,  and  a  fort  of  propriety  in  admitting  to  appear  v»'hat  he  had 
undertaken  to  defend.     The  American  couilitutions  v/ere  to  liberty 


RIGHTS     OF    MAN.  87 

what  a  grammar  is  to  language  :  They  define  its  prats  of  fpeech,  anc' 
pradically  ccr.ftri.dl  them  into  fyntax. 

The  pecuhar  fituation  of  tlie  then  marquis  cle  la  Fayette  is  another 
link  in  the  great  xhain.  He  ferved  in  America  as  an  American  of- 
ficer under  a  commifiion  of  congrefs,  aud  by  theuniverfality  of  his 
acquaintance,  was  in  clofe  friendfliip  with  the  civil  government  of 
America,  as  well  as  with  the  military  hue.  He  fpoke  the  language 
of  the  country,  entered  into  the  difcufiions  on  the  principles  of  go- 
vernment, and  vras  always  a  welcome  friend  at  any  clectio:". 

When  the  war  clofed,  a  vail  reinforcement  to  the  caufe  of  liberty 
fpread  itfelf  over  France,  by  the  return  of  the  French  ufHcers  and 
foldiers.  A  knowledge  of  the  pra£lice  was  then  joined  to  the  theory  j 
and  all  that  was  wanting  to  give  it  real  exillence,  was  opportunity. 
Man,  cannot,  properly  fpeaking,  make  circumilances  for  his  purpofe, 
but  he  always  has  it  in  his  power  to  improve  them  when  they  occur: 
And  this  was  the  cafe  in  France. 

.  _  M.  Neckar  was  difplaced  in  May  1781  ;  and  by  the  ill-manage- 
ment of  the  finances  afterwards,  and  particularly  during  trie  extra- 
vagant adminiitration  of  M.  Calonne,  the  revenue  of  France,  vvhuli 
was  nearly  twenty-four  millions  fteriing  per  year,  was  become  unequal 
.to  the  expenditures,  not  becaufe  the  revenue  had  decreafed,  but  be- 
caufe  the  expences  had  increafed,  and  this  was  the  circumllance 
which  the  nation  laid  hold  of  to  brinsf  forward  a  revolution.  The 
Engiifli  rainiiler,  Mr.  Pitt,  has  frequently  alluded  to  the  flate  of  the 
French  finances  in  his  budgets,  without  underllanding  the  fubje(rt. 
Had  the  French  parliaments  been  as  ready  to  regifter  edicts  for  new 
taxes,  as  an  Englilh  parliament  is  to  giant  them,  there  had  been  no 
derangement  in  the  finances,  nor  yet  any  revolution  ;  but  this  will 
better  explain  itfelf  as  I  proceed. 

It  will  be  neceffary  here  to  flicw  how  tax?s  were  form.eriy  raifcd  in 
France.  Tlie  king,  or  ratiier  the  court  or  miniflry  acting  under  the 
ufe  of  that  name,  framed  the  edifls  for  taxes  at  their  own  djfcretion, 
and  fent  them  to  the  parliaments  to  be  regiilcred;  for  until  they  were 
regiftered  ;  by  the  parliaments,  they  were  not  operative.  Difputes 
had  long  exiiled  between  the  court  and  the  parliament  with  rcfpec"! 
to  the  extent  of  tlie  parliament's  authority  on  this  head.  The  eourt 
infilled  that  the  authority  of  parhament  went  no  further  than  '.o  re- 
monftrate  or  fiiew  reafons  againil  the  tax,  rei'erving  to  itfelf  the  riglit 
of  determining  whether  the  reafons  were  well  or  ill-founded  ;  and  in 
confequence  thereof,  either  to  v.'ithdraw  the  edicl  as  a  matter  of 
choice,   or  toorJcrh  to  be  cnregiflered  as   a  mat'ier  of  authority. 


S3  PAINE's     WORKS. 

The  phriiaments  on  their  part  infifted,  that  they  had  not  only  a  right 
to  remonflrate,  bat  to  rejedl;  and  on  this  ground  they  were  always, 
fupported  by  the  nation. 

But,  to  return  to  the  order  of  my  narrative — M.  Calonne  wanted 
money ;  and  as  he  knew  the  ffurdy  difpofition  of  the  parliaments  with 
refpeft  to  new  taxes,  he  ingenioiifiy  fought  either  to  approach  them 
by  a  more  gentle  means  than  that  of  direci:  authority,  of  to  get  over 
their  heads  by  a  manccuvre:  And,  for  this  piirpofe,  he  revived  the  pro- 
ject of  aiTe'mbling  a  body  of  men  from  the  feveral  provinces,  under 
theilyle  of  an  '*  affembly  of  the  notables,"  or  men  of  note,  who  met  in 
17S7,  and  who  were  either  to  recommend  taxes  to  the  parliaments, 
or  to  adl  as  a  parliament  themfelves.  An  affembly  under  this  name 
bad  been  called  in  1687. 

As  we  are  to  viev/  this  as  the  firil  pradlieal  ftep  towards  the  revo- 
lu!;ion,  it  will  be  proper  to  enter  into  fc-me  particulars  refpefting  it. 
The  afTcmbly  of  tlie  notables  has  in  fome  places  been  raiftaken  for 
the  Hates  general,  but  was  wholly  a  different  body  ;  the  flatcs-general 
being  always  by  election.  The  perfons  who  compofed  the  afTenibly 
of  the  notables  were  ail  nominated  by  the  king,  and  c-onfiiled  of  one 
hundred  and  forty- members.  But  as  M.  Calonne  could  not  depend 
upon  a  majority  of  this  affembly  in  his  favour,  he  very  ingenioufiy 
arranged  them  in  fuch  a  m.anner  as  to  make  forty-four  a  majority  of 
one  hundred  and  forty :  to  efleft  this,  he  difpofed  of  them  into  feven 
feparate  committees,  of  twenty  members  each.  Every  general  quef- 
tion  was  to  be  decided,  not  by  a  majority  of  perfons,  but  by  a  ma- 
jority of  coirrmittces  ;  and  as  eleven  votes  would  miake  a  majority  in  a 
committee,  and  four  conimittees  a  m.ajority  of  feven,  M.  Calonne  had 
good  rcafon  to  conclude,  that  as  forty- four  would  determine  any  !:;"e- 
neral  quefticn,  he  could  net  be  out- voted,  i  ut  all  his  plans  deceived 
him,  and  in  the  event  became  his  overthrow. 

The  then  marquis  de  la  Fayette  was  placed  in  the  fecond  com- 
mittee, of  v.'hich  count  D'Artois  was  prefident :  and  as  money-matters 
was  the  obiei^,  it  naturally  brought  into  view  every  circumftance 
connected  v^'itli  it.  M.  de  la  Fayette  made  a  verbal  charge  againft 
Calonne,  for  felling  crown  lands  to  the  amiount  of  two  niillions  of 
livres,  in  a  manner  that  appeared  to  be  unknown  to  the  king.  The 
couiJt  D*Artois  (as  if  to  intimidate,  for  the  Bailile  was  then  in  being) 
allced  the  marquis,  if  he  wuuld  render  the  charge  in  writing?  He  re- 
plied that  he  would.  The  count  D'Artois  did  not  demand  it,  but 
brought  a  mefTage  from  the  king  to  that  purport.  M.  de  la  Fayette 
t^en  delivered  in  his  charge  in  writing,   to  be  given  to  the  king,  un- 


R  I  GHT  S     O  F    MA  N.  89 

dcnaking  ♦'o  fupport  it.  No  farther  pvoceed;n<TS  wen?  had  upon  tiiis 
afF.tir;  bat  M.  Calonne  was  fcon  after  diuniiTcd  by  the  king,  and  let 
Oil  to  England. 

AsM.  de  la  Fayette  from  the  experience  he  had  fcen  in  America, 
was  better  acquainted  with'tlie  fcJJ.ice  qf  civil  frovernmcnt  than  tlie 
generality  of  the  meiiibc-rs  who  eoniporcd  the  aflenibly  of  the  rotables 
could  then  be,  the  brunt  of  tlie  biiiineis  fvll  confiderably  to  liis  rnr;re. 
The  plan  of  thofe  who  had  a  couiliLutiOn  ui  view,  was  to  contend  wi. Ii 
the  court  on  the  ground  of  taxes,  and  feme  of  them  cpeuly  profelkd 
their  object.  Difputes  iTequendy  arofe  bciwecrn  count  D'Artois  and 
M.  de  la  Fayelte  upon  various  fubjects.  V^ilh  rtfpe£^  to  the  arrears 
already  incurred,  the  latter  propoied  to  remedy  their.,  by  accommo- 
dating tlie  expences  to  tlie  revenue,  inilead  01  the  revenue  to  the  ex- 
penees;  and  as  oLicdr.  of  reform,  he?  prop^'fed  to  abohui  the  Lailile, 
and  ail  the  ftate-prifons  throug]:out  the  nation  (tlu^  helping  of  which 
was  attended  with  great  expence)  and  to  fupprefs  L''ires  dc  cachet': 
But  thofe  matters  were  not  then  m.uch  attended  to;  and  with  refpe^Tc 
to  letires  de  cachet ,  a  inc^jorlty  of  the  nollcs  appeared  io  be  'u:  fa-oour  of 
them. 

On  the  fubjeft  of  fupplying  the  treafury  by  new  taxes,  the  afTembly 
declined  taking  the  ma.  tc  r  on  themielves,  concurrin^:^  in  the  opinion 
that  they  had  not  authority.  In  a  debate  on  this  fubjedl:,  M.  de  la 
Fayette  faid,  t'lat  raihng  monev  by  t?.xts  could  only  br  done  by  a 
iiatio;;al  aflembiy,  freely  elevxed  by  th.e  people,  and  acliug  as  thc:ir 
feprefentatives.  Do  you  m.ear.,  faid  the  count  Iv'Artois,  they.V/,Vj-- 
gciieral?  M.  de  la  Fayette  replitd,  that  lie  did.  Will  you,  faid  I  he 
count  D*Artois,  Hgn  what  you  fay,  to  be  given  to  the  king  ?  The 
other  replied,  tliat  he  not  only  would  do  ii:i:;,  but  that  he  would  go 
farther,  and  fay,  that  tlie  efix.'6xual  mode  would  be,  for  the  king  to 
agree  to  the  eflabhTnment  of  a  confti'ation. 

As  one  of  trie  plans  liad  t'iU:.  failed,  that  of  getting  the  alTenroIy 
to  acl  as  a  parliament,  the  other  came  into  view,  that  of  recommend- 
ing. On  this  fubjeft,  the  aficmbly  agreed  to  recomuiend  two  new 
taxes  to  be  enrcgiitered  by  the  parliament,  the  one  a  flauip-tax,  and 
the  othei"  a  territorial  tax,  or  fort  of  iai.d-tax.  The  two  have  beerj 
elhmated  at  about  five  millions  iteviing,  per  anu.  V*''e  have  now  10 
turn  our  attention  to  theparhament?,  on  whom  the  Ijulinefj  \vas  aiiain 
devolvin<T. 

o 

The  archV;ilhop  of  Thouloufe  (hnce  arclibiihop  of  Sens,  and  now 
:t  cardinal)  was  appointed  to  tlie  adminiilration  of  the  finances,  f(.x>n 
after  the  diimiifii,.!  of  Ciilonuc.     }Ie  was  alio  made  prime  miniiler,  aa 

t.  ■     ■<•        i        V 

Vol.  it.  N 


90  P  A  I  N  E  '  s    W  O  11  K  S. 

office  that  did  not  always  exld  in  France.  When  this  office  did  not 
exiil,  the  chief  of  each  of  the  principal  departments  tranfacted  bufi- 
nefs  immediately  with  the  king;  but  when  a  prime  minifter  was  ap- 
pointed, they  did  bufmefs  only  with  him.  The  archbifliop  arrived 
to  more  ftate-aiithority  than  any  miniller  fince  the  duke  de  Choifeuil, 
and  the  nation  was  (Irongly  difpofed  in  his  favour  ;  but  by  a  line  of 
condiit5i:  fcarcely  to  be  accounted  for,  he  perverted  every  opportu- 
nitv,  turned  out  a  dofpot,  and  funk  into  difgrace,  and  a  cardinal. 

The  afTcmbly  of  the  notables  having  broke  up,  the  new  m.iniiler 
fent  the  edicts  for  the  two  nev/  taxes  recommended  by  the  affembly  to 
tlie  parliaments,  to  be  er^regiftered.  They  of  courfe  came  firll  before 
the  parliament  of  Paris,  wh.o  returned  for  anfv/er,  'That  iinth  fuch  a 
revciiue  as  ihs  nation  thtn  fupported,  the  name  of  taxes  ought  not  to  he 
insmloncilj  lul for  the purpofe  of  reducing  them;  and  threw  both  the  cdifbs 


<rjt 


■,'■  * 


On  this  refufal,  the  parliament  v.-as  ordered  to  Verfaiiles,  where, 
in  theufual  Rnnn,  the  king  held,  what  under  the  eld  government  was 
called  a  bed  of  iuPiice  :  And  the  two  edidts  were  enregiftered  in  pre- 
fence  of  tlie  pavhament,  by  an  order  of  ftate,  in  the  manner  mentioned 
in  pao-c  87-  On  tliis,  the  parliament  immediately  returned  to  Paris, 
renewed  their  fLffion  in  form,  and  ordered  the  enregiilering  to  be 
jlruck  out,  declaring  that  every  thing  done  at  Verfaiiles  Vv'as  illegal. 
All  the  members  of  parliament  were  then  fcrved  with  lettres  de 
cachet,  and  e-iilcd  to  Trois  ;  but  as  they  continued  as  inflexible  in 
exile  as  before,  and  as  vengeance  did  not  fupply  the  place  of  taxes, 
tliev  were  after  a  (hort  time  recalled  to  Paris. 

The  ediib^  were  again  tendered  to  them,  and  the  count  D'Artois 
und^r'.ook  to  aeh  as  reprefentative  for  the  king.  For  this  purpofe, 
be  came  from  VerfailLs  to  Paris,  in  a  train  of  proceHion  ;  and  the 
parliament  vrere  affembled  to  receive  him.  But  fiiow  and  parade  had 
loil  their  ijifluence  in  France  ;  and  whatever  ideas  of  importance  he 
m.![Tht  fet  off  v/ith,  he  had  to  return  with  thofe  of  mortiiieation  and 
difappointment.  On  ahghting  from  In's  carriage  to  afcend  the  fteps  of 
t'le  parliament  houfe,  the  crowd  (which  was  numeroufjy  collected) 
threw  out  trite  exprtlTions,  f:iying,  "  tliis  is  monfieur  D'Artois,  who 
*'  v/a.ntn  more  of  our  nioney  to  fpend."  The  marked  difapprobation 
which  he  lavv,   impreffed  him   v*^itii  apprehenfions ;    and  the   word 

*  IVhen  the  -EfiFlifi  nwi'i/Ier,  .Mr.  Pitt,  ment'ions  the  French  finances 
fi'raln  in  the  Engli/Jj  parliament ^  it  ivouhl  be  zueit  that  he  noticed  this  as  an 
cxaniph'. 


RIGHTS    OF    MA  N.  f^i 

jilt:*  arms  (To  arms)  was  given  out  by  the  olTicer  of  the  guard  who 
attended  him.  It  was  fo  loudly  vociferated,  that  it  echoed  through 
tlie  avenues  of  the  houfe,  and  produced  a  temporary  confufon  :  I  v/aa 
then  (landing  in  one  of  the  apartments  through  which  he  had  to  pafs, 
aud  could  not  avoid  refieiling  how  v/retched  is  the  condition  of  a 
difrefpedled  man. 

He  endeavoured  to  imprefs  the  parliament  by  great  words,  and 
opened  his  authority  by  faying,  "  The  king,  our  lord  and  mafiei*.'* 
Tiie  parhament  received  him  very  coolly,  and  with  their  ufual  deter- 
mination not  to  regifter  the  taxes  :  And  in  this  manner  tlie  interview 
ended. 

After  this  a  new  fubj^fc  took  place  :  In  the  various  debates  and 
conteils  that  arofe  betv/een  the  court  and  the  parliaments  en  the  fub- 
je6t:  of  taxes,  the  parlianient  of  Paris  at  lail  declared,  that  although 
it  had  been  cuftomary  for  parliaments  to  enregiller  ed'61s  for  tr-xcs 
as  a  matter  of  convenience,  the  right  belonged  only  to  the  Jlaics-ge- 
iieral ;  and  that,  therefore,  the  parliam.ents  could  no  longer  with  pro- 
priety continue  to  debate  on  vWiat  it  had  not  authority  to  a6t,  Tlie 
king  after  this  came  to  Paris,  and  held  a  meeting  with  the  parlia- 
m.ent,  in  which  he  continued  from  ten  in  the  morning  till  about  fix 
in  the  evening  ;  and,  in  a  manner  that  appeared  to  proceed  frcm 
him,  as  if  unconfulted  upon  with  the  cabinet  or  the  miniflry,  $rave  his 
word  to  the  parh'anient,  that  the  ftates  general  fliould  be  convened. 

But  after  this  another  fctne  arofe,  on  a  ground  different  from  all 
the  former.  The  minifter  and  the  cabinet  were  averfe  to  calling  the 
flates-general :  They  well  knew,  that  if  the  ilates  general  were  af- 
fembled,  that  themfelves  mull  fall  :  And  as  the  king  had  not  men- 
tioned any  t'nney  they  hit  on  a  project  calculated  to  elude,  wiihout 
appearing  to  oppofe. 

For  this  purpofe,  the  court  fet  about  making  a  fort  of  conftitution 
itfelf ;  It  was  principally  the  work  of  M.  Lamoignon,  keeper  of  tlie 
feals,  who  afterwards  fhot  himfelf.  The  new  arrangement  confiHed 
in  eftablifliing  a  body  under  the  name  of  a  cour  plcniere^  or  full  court, 
in  which  were  invefted  all  the  powers  that  the  government  miglit 
have  occafion  to  make  ufe  of.  The  perfons  compofmg  this  court  to 
be  nominated  by  the  king  ;  the  contended  right  of  taxation  was 
given  up  on  the  part  of  the  king,  and  a  new  criminal  code  of  laws, 
and  law  proceedings,  was  fubilituted  in  the  room  of  the  former. 
The  thing,  in  many  points,  contained  better  principles  than  thofe 
upon  which  the  government  had  hitherto  been  adminilUred  :  But 
with  rcfpedl  to  the  cnur  j^Unkrt^  it  was  no   other  than  a  medium 


9;2  V  A  I  N  E  *  s     V/  C  II  K  S. 

tiJron^h  wn'ch  dcfpotifiii  was  to  pah;,  v'ithcut  appearing  to  ^t^  di- 
rettly  fi-om  itfel'^ 

The  cabiret  ]i?d  l;:*c;^i  expeftintions  from  their  new  contr'vance, 
Tnt  perfons  wlin  -A-c-re  to  ccTTinor?  the  ccur  /./^^ife^r,  were  already 
no/van ned  ;  "nd  'a^-^  it  v,^ns  neceflary  to  Ccirry  a  fnir  appcr.rarxe,  r/any 
of  the  belt  charafiers  in  the  iKiiioTi  wire  iippr.ir.ied  i-rr.orig  the  riiim- 
ber.  It  Wfis  to  ccmmencfr  on  the  8th  of  May,  I'/ScS  :  But  an- op- 
p-'-inon  arofe  to  it,  ou  t-xvo  grounds — the  one  as  to  principle,  the 
other  ?s  to  form. 

On  the  ':>roi!!;d  of  principle  it  wr;.^  contended,  That  o'overrxment 
had  not  a  iij::ht  to  alter  itielf ;  and  that  it  the  pra(fi:ice  was  once  ad- 
nn'tted,  it  ^^oidd  grow  into  a  principle,  and  be  made  a  precedent  for 
any  fniure  alterations  the  roverr.ir.ent  mi<^'ht  w;{h  to  f  flabljli  :   That 

o  o 

the  ri'tdit  of  alterin<-^  the  p-ov^ernment  was  a  national  right,  and  v.f"  a 
Tio-ht  of  government.  .And  on  the  pronnd  of  form,  it  v.ns  contended, 
that  the  i.our  pleaierc  was  nr.thino-  more  than  a  larc';e  cabinet. 

The  then   dukes  de  la  Pvochefoncault,  Luxembourg,  de  Noailles, 
and  many  others,  refnfed  to  accept  the  nomii-ation,  and  ilremior;.(ly 
oppofed  the  whole  plan.      When  the  edi<5l  for  eflahliflTin^  this  new 
court  was  fent  to  the  par'iaments  to  be  enre-i-iRered,  and  put  mto  ex- 
fcution,  they  rcf  (led  alio.      The  parliament  of  Paris  not  only  refnfed, 
but  denied  the  authority-  ;  and  the  conteft  renewed  itfelf  between  the 
parliament  and  the  cabinet  more  (Irongly  than  ever.     Wliile  the  par- 
liament were  fitting  in  debate  on  this  Uibjec!^,  the  miniilry  ordered  a 
regiment  of  foldiers  to  furround  thehoiife,  and  form  a  blockade.      The 
members  fent  out  for  beds  and  provifion,  and  lived  as  in  a  befieged  ci- 
tadel ;  and  as  th's  had  no  effeil,  the  connnanding  officer  was  ordered  *" 
to  enter  the  parliament  houfe  and  feize  them,  which  he  did,  and  fomc 
of  the  principal  members  were  fhut  up  in  different  prifons.     About 
the  fame  time  a  deputation  of  perfons  arrived  from  the  province  of 
Brittan}',  to  remonilrate  againir  the  eftablifliment  of  tr-e  cour  pictiiere  ; 
and  thole  the  archbiOiop  lent  to  the  Ball:;!-.      But  the  f;>irit  of  the 
nation  was  not  to  be  overcom.e  ;  and  it  war.  To  fully  fenfible  cf  the  llrcng 
ground  it  had  taken,  that  of  withholding  taxes,  that  it  contented  itfelf 
with  keeping  up  a  fort  of  quiet  refinance,  which  effettually  over- 
threw all  the  plans  at  that  tinie  formed  againfl  it.      The  projeft  of 
tlie  cour  pu-niers  \xd.2    at  laR:  obliged  to  be  given  up,  and  the   prime 
minifter  not  long  afterwards  followed  its  fate  ;   and  M.  Neckar  was 
recalled  into  oIHce. 

The  attempt  to  edablidi  the  cour  plemre  ;     had  an  cffeft  upon  the 
nation,  which  itfelf  did  not  perceive.     It  was  a  fort  of  new  form  of 


11  I  G  H  T  S     OF    MA  N. 


93 


government,  that  infcnlibly  fi:rvecl  to  put  the  old  (.ne  out  of  fight,  and 
to  unh'ngc  it  from  the  fiiperftitious  authority  of  antiquity.  It  was 
government  dethroning  government  ;  and  the  oki  one,  by  attempting 
to  make  a  new  one,  made  a  chafm. 

The  failure  of  tliis  fcheme  renewed  the  fuhjecl  of  convening  the 
flates-general  ;  and  this  gave  rife  to  a  new  feries  ofpohtics.     There 
was  no  fettled  form  for  convening  the  dates-general :    All  that  it  po- 
fitively  meant,  was  a  deputation  from  what  was  then  called  the  cler- 
gy, the  nobleiTe,  and  the  commons  ;  but  their  numbers,  or  tlieir  pro- 
portions, had  not  been  alvv^ays  the  lame.     They  had  been  convened 
only  on   extraordinary   cccanons,   the  latt  of   when   was  in    1 614; 
their  numbers  v^^ere  then  in  equal  proportions, and  they  voted  by  orders. 
It  could  not  well  efcape  the  fagacity  of  M.  Neckar,  that  the  mode 
of  1 614  would  aiifwer  neither  the  purpofe  of  the  then  government, 
-  nor  of  the  nation.     As  matters  v/ere  at  that  time  circumllanced,  it 
would  have  been  too  contentions  to  argue  upon  any  thing.   The  de- 
bates would  have  been   endiels  upon   privileges  a^id  exemptions,    in 
which  neither  the  wants  of  the  government,  nor  tlie  wiflics  of  the  na- 
tion  for  a  conftitution,  would  have  been  attended  to.      But  as  he  did 
not  choofe  to  take  the  decifion  upon  himfelf,  he  fiimmjoned  again  the 
a/fembly  of  the  notahks^    and  referred  it  to  tliem.      T'liis  body  \Vas  in 
general  interefted  in  the  decifion,  being  chiefly  of  tlie  ariftocracy  and 
the  high-paid  clergy;  and  they  decided  in  ftivour  of  tlie  mode  of  1614. 
,    This  decifion  was  againfi  the  fenle  of  tlie  nation,  and  aifo  agairffl  the 
wimes  of  the  court  ;  for  the  ariftocracy  oppofed  itlelf  to  botli,  and 
contented  for  privileges  independent  of  cither.    The  fubjeft  was  then 
taken  up  by  the  parh'ament,  who  recommended  that  the  number  of 
the  commons  iliould  be  ei:'jal  to  the  other  two  ;  and  that  thev  (hould 
all  fit  in  one  houfe,  and  vote  in  one  body.      Tiie  number-  finally  de- 
termined on  was  twelve  hundred :      Six  hundred  to  be  chofen  by  the 
commons  (and  this  was  lefs  than  their  proportion  c^ucht  to  have  been 
when  their  worth  and  confequence  is  conndcred  cu  a  national  fcale) 
three  hundred  by  the  clergy,  and  three  hundred  by  tlie  ariftocracv ;  but 
with  refped-  to  the  mode  of  aiTembling  themfelves,  whether  too-ethcr  or 
apart,   or  the  manner  in  which  they  fhould  vote,   thofc  m.atters  were 
referred.* 

*    Mr.  Burhe  (and  I  mujl  tah  ths  Twerty   of  tcVnv.g   h'.m  he  is  vny 
unacquainted  iv'ilh  Fraich  ajfalrs, J  /peaking  upon  this  fuljcil,  fays,  «  The 
frjl  thing  that  fl rue h  me  in  the  calling  thef^utes-gencraU  li'as  a  great  de- 
parture from  the  ancient  courfe  ;^^   and  he  foon  cferfays,  ^^  From  the 


94  P  A  I  N  E  '  s    W  O  R  K  S. 

The  ck£tion  that  followed^  was  not  a  contefted  dcclion,  but  sn 
animated  one.  The  candidates  i^-ere  not  men,  but  principles.  So- 
tieties  wc-i  e  formed  in  Paris,  aiid  committees  of  correfpondence  and 
comiriUnicatfon  eftabliuud  throughout  the  nation,  for  the  purpcfe  of 
enhghtening  the  people,  and  explaining  to  them  the  principles  of 
civil  government ;  and  fo  orderly  was  the  eleftion  conducted,  that  it 
Q.d  not  give  rife  even  to  the  rumour  oIl  tumult. 

The  Itates-general  were  to  m.eet  at  Verfaillcs  in  April,  1789,  but 
did  not  aiTenible  till  May.  They  fituated  themfelves  in  three  feparate 
chambers,  or  rather  the  cleriT^v  and  the  arillocracy  withdrew  each  into 
a  feparate  chamber.  The  majority  of  the  arillocracy  claimied  what 
they  called  the  privilege  of  voting  as  a  feparate  body,  and  of  y^iving 
their  confent  or  their  uegr.tive  iu  that  manner;  and* many  of  the  bi- 
fliops  and  the  high  beneficed  clergy  claimed  the  fam.e  privilege  on  the 
part  of  their  order. 

The  licrs  eiat  (as  tliey  were  then  cr.llcd)  difowned  any  knowledge 
of  artificial  orders  and  artificial  privileges  ;  and  they  v/ere  not  only 
vefolute  on  this  point  but  fomewhut  difdainful.  They  began  to 
confidcr  ariiiGcracy  as  a  kiad  of  fungus  growing  out  of  the  corrup- 

rr.oTTiont  I  read  il:  I\jl,  I  /'rry  d'ljVindly,  and  i>ery  nearly  as  it  has  hap- 
pened^ all  that  nvas  to  f-.Uo'Vjy  Mr.  Burke  certainly  did  not  fee  all  that 
ivas  to  jolloiv.  I ikavc  ciuhaDoiired  to  Irtiprefs  h'lni,  as  ivcll  before  as 
after  thejlatcs-gcncral  met,  that  therj  ^ivoiddbe  a  revolution  ;  but  'ujas  not 
auie  to  make  han  fee  it,  neither  tijo-dd  he  believe  it.  How  then  he  could 
dijhnSliy  fee  all  the  pa.  is,  tuhen  the  iidrule  ivas  out  of  fight,  is  beyond  my 
coraprehenjion.  And  'with  refpcct  to  the  "  departure  from  the  ancient 
*'  courf',**  hejldcs  the  natural  'v:eahnefs  cf  the  remark,  it Jloeivs  that  he  is 
nnacqualnicd  ivith  circuwjianccs.  The  departure  luas  neciffary,  from  the 
experience  ha di  up'rn  it,  thai  the  ancient  courfe  ivas  a  lad  one.  TheJIates- 
general  of  16  J /^  ix-erc  called  at  the  commencement  of  the  civil  ivar  in  the 
viinorliy  of  Louis  XIII  :  But  by  the  cla/h  of  arranging  them  by  orders, 
they  increafed  the  confiifiori  thry  'were  called  to  compofe.  "^Bhe  author  of 
L Tn tri guc  du  Cabinet  (Intrigue  of  the  Calinet),  ni'ho  ^u-rote  before  any 
revoluticn  <zaas  thmtght  of  In  France,  fpeaking  of  the  Jlatcs-gcneral  c/'  1 614, 
fays,  **  1  hey  held  the  public  in  ffpenfe  five  months  ;  and  by  the  quejlions 
*'  agitated  therein,  and  the  heat  ivith  rxdnch  they  tuereput,  it  appears  that 
"  the  great  (les  grands)  thought  more  tofatisfy  their  p^vticuldr  pap/ions , 
*'  than  to  procure  the  good  of  the  nation;  and  the  avhole  time  pajfed  away 
"  in  altercations,  ceremonies  and paradc.^^  U Intrigue  du  Cabinet ^  vol.  I. 
/.  1.329. 


R  I  G  H  T  S     O  F    M  A  N.  9f 

t-ion  of  fociety,  that  could  not  be  admitted  even  as  a  brancli  of  it ; 
and  from  the  difpofiti'on  the  arlilocracy  had  fhcwn,  by  upholding 
Icttres  de  cachet,  and  in  fundry  other  inftances,  it  was  manifeft  that 
no  conftitution  could  be  formed  by  admitting^.en  in  any  other  cha- 
rafter,  than  as  national  men. 

After  various  altercations  on  this  head,  the  tiers  etat  or  commons 
(as  they  were  then  called)  declared  themfelvcs  (on  a  mot'on  made  for 
that  purpofe  by  the  abbe  Sieyes)  "  THE  REPllESIiNTATIVES 
*'  OF  THE  NATION;  and  thai  the  tnvo  orders  could  he  co^iftdtred  hut 
**  as  deputies  of  corporations ,  cnid  covJd  only  have  a  dcUher^itivs  voice  oui 
"  w/jen  they  ojjemhled  in  a  national  charaBcr  irhh  ibs  national  rcprefenta- 
"  tives.''  This  proceeding  extinguiPned  the  ftyle  of  etats  gcnsratix, 
or  ftates-general,  and  erected  it  into  the  ftyle  it  now  bears,  that  of 
raiTemble  nationale  or  national  affembly. 

This  motion  was  not  made  in  a  precipitate  manner :  It  vv^as  ths 
refult  of  cool  dehberation,  and  concerted  betvv-een  the  national  repre- 
fentatives  and  the  pstriotic  members  of  the  two  chambers,  wlio  faw 
into  the  folly,  mJfcnief  and  injuftice  of  artificial  privileged  didinclions. 
It  was  become  evident,  that  no  conflitution,  worthy  of  being  called 
by  that  name,  could  be  ellabliflied  on  any  thing  lefs,  than  a  national 
ground.  The  ariilocracy  had  hitherto  oppofed  tlie  defpotifm  of  the 
court,  and  afteded  the  language  of  patriotifm;  but  it  oppofed  it  as 
its  rival  (as  the  Englifii  barons  oppofed  king  John)  ;  and  it  now  op- 
pofed the  nation  from  the  fame  motives. 

On  carrying  this  motion,  the  national  reprcfentatives,  as  had  been 
concerted,  fent  an  invitation  to  the  two  chambers,  to  unite  with  them 
in  a  national  chara^ler,  and  proceed  to  bullnef;:;.  A  niajority  of  tlie 
clergy,  chiefly  of  the  parifli  priells,  withdrew  from  the  clerical  cham.- 
ber,  -and  joined  the  nation  ;  and  forty-live  from  the  ouier  chamber 
joined  in  like  manner.  There  is  a  fort  of  fecret  hiilory  belonging  to 
this  lafl  circumflance,  which  is  neceflary  to  its  explanation  :  It  was 
not  judged  prudent  that  all  the  patriotic  members  of  the  chamber, 
ilyiing  itfelf  the  nobles,  fliould  quit  it  at  once  ;  and  in  confequence 
of  this  arrangement,  they  drew  off  by  degrees,  always  leaving  fome, 
as  well  to  reafon  the  cafe,  as  to  watch  the  fufpetted.  In  a  little 
time,  the  numbers  increafed  from  forty-five  to  eighty,  and  foon  after 
to  a  greater  number  ;  which  with  a  majority  of  the  clergy,  and  the 
whole  of  the  national  reprefentatives  put  the  malcontents  in  a  very 
diminutive  condition. 

The  king,  who,  very  difrerent  to  the  general  clafs  cal'ed  by  that 
name,  is  a  man  of  a  good  heart,   fhewed  himfcIF  difpofjd  to  recom- 


96  PAINE's    W^^RKS. 

itjersd  a  v.rhn  of  the  three  chanibers,  on  the  ground  the  national  af- 
fembly  had  tak^.i  ;  but  th;;  inal-contents  exerted  thcn^fclves  to  prevent 
it,  and  begar.  now  to  h:'ve  anotiicr  projed  in  view.  Their  numbers 
C'.nfiilcd  of  a  m  lion'tv  of  the  arillocratical  chaniber,  and  a  minority  of 
\hz  clerical  chamber,  chiefly  of  bifhops  and  hi-^'h-beneficed  clergy  ; 
and  tbefe  mevi  were  determined  to  put  every  thing  to  iffue,  as  well 
l.y  ilrenglh  as  by  ilr-.ta^^etn.  They  had  no  objeftion  to  a  couPu'tu- 
tion  ;  but  ft  mulr  be  Gich  an  one  as  themfelves  flvjiild  dilate,  and 
fuited  to  their  own  views  and  particular  lituations.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  nation  diunvned  knov.ing  any  thing  of  them  but  as  citi- 
zens, and  was  determined  to  fnnt  out  all  fuch  upftavt  pretenfions. 
The  more  ati{h>craey  ai^pcared,  the  more  it  was  defpii'ed  ;  thrre  was 
a  viiiblc  imbetiili'Ly  aiid  want  of  intdledls  in  the  majority,  a  fort  cfj^V 
TiC  fats  qu'/ij  t!!it  vs'hile  it  afFe6ied  to  be  m.ore  than  citizen,  was  lefs 
than  man.  It  loll  ground  from  contempt  more  than  from  hatred  ; 
and  was  raiiicr  jeered  at  as  an  afs,  than  dreaded  as  a  lion.  This  is 
the  general  charailer  of  ari!locracy,  or  what  are  called  nobles  or  no- 
bility, or  rather  no-abihty,  in  all  con.ntries. 

The  plan  of  ihe  mal-contents  confuled  new  of  two  things  ;  either  to 
deliberate  a;xl  vote  by  chambers  (or  ovr^,  rs],  more  efpecially  on  all 
queftions  refpecling  a  conftitution  (by  which  the  ariilocratical  cham- 
ber wcnld  have  had  a  negative  en  any  article  of  th.e  conftitution)  or, 
h\  cafe  ti'.ey  could  not  accompliili  this  objtci,  to  cverihrcw  the  na- 
tion:il  aiTenibly  eiitirely. 

To  auecl  one  or  o^her  of  thefe  objccls,  they  began  now  to  culti- 
vate a  friei'idflrip  with  the  defpotifm  they  had  hitherto  attempted  to 
rival,  and  'ihe  count  D'Artois  became  their  chief.  The  king  {vvho- 
has  fmce  declared  him.felf  deceived  into  their  m.eafures)  held,  accord- 
fag'-  to  the  (;ld  form,  a  led  of  jnfllce,  in  which  lie  accorded  to  the  de- 
'  liberation  and  ^olz  pnr  tc!e  (by' head)  upon  feveral  cbjeds ;  but 
referved  the  deliberation  and  vote  upon  all  quellions  refpe<fiing  a 
conPiitution  to  the  three  cham^bers  feparntely.  This  declaration  of 
the  king  was  made  agalnfi;  the  advice  of  M.  Neckar,  who  now  began 
to  perceive  th.-^t  he  was  growing  out  of  f^fhion  at  court,  and  that 
another  miniller  v.-as  in  contemplation. 

A;<  the  f(5rm  of  fitting  in  feparate  cham.bers  v/as  yet  apparently 
kept  up,  thoiigh  efTentially  deilroyed,  the  national  reprefentatives, 
immediately  after  thii  declaration  of  tlie  king,  reforted  to  their  own 
chambers,  to  confult  on  a  protell  againll  it ;  and  the  minority  of  the 
chamber  (calling  itfelf  the  nobles)  who  had  joined  the  national  caufe, 
retired  to  a  private  houfe,  to  confult  in  like  manner.     The  mul-con- 


of  prp- 


RIGHTS     O  F    M  A  N.  97 

tfnts  h  id  by  th's  lime  concfrtjcl  I'.v^'r  mcafur^s  whh.  tV.e  court, 
^vriicli  co:i-it  D'Artois  uaJtrtJok  to  condacl  :  Ai.d  ns  they  faw, 
frc-ii  th^  diTcontont  which  the  decla-aliv)!!  excited,  and  the  oppontioii 
miking  afrainft  it,  thit  they  could  not  obtain  a  control  over  the  j;i- 
tendjd  coultitiuion  by  a  fepiirate  vote,  th.ry  prepared  Lh:n;.e.v'es  for 
^heir  fiinl  ohjeti — th.it  oF  conipi/i,ig  iv.;iatl  the  national  afTembiy, 
and  oveilhrowini^  it. 

The  next  mor.iin?j,  th^  doir  of  tlie  chi.nber  ofth.e  niiLiond  a-Tj;r.- 
Vy  was  ihut  agalafl  ih^m,  a.id  jjuardrd  by  troopr,  ;  w\d  the  menibe  s 
vr^ve  refiifed  admitta.ice.  Oa  this,  ihey  withdrew  to  a  tenisground 
ill  the  ne? jhbo-'.vhood  of  Verfailles,  as  the  ;n-.)iL  convenient  pi:;e(^  they 
could  find,  and,  after  renewing  their  feflio;i,  took  :\n  caLh  never  to 
feparate  from  each  other,  under  any  circumitcince  whatever,  death 
excepted,  until  they  had  ellablifh-d  a  conftitution.  As  the  e-pcri- 
jTient  of  (hutting  up  the  houfe  had  no  other  effecl  than  that  of 
ducing  a  clofer  C'^iuiexion  in  the  members,  it  was  opened  agj 
next  day,  and  the  pubHc  buhnefs  recrn-iinenccd  in  the  ufaa^  place. 

We  now  are  to  have  in  view  the  formitu''  of  the  w-^w  minifti  y,  which 
was  to  accoLTipIifh  t!ie  overthrow  of  the  national  afTeinbiy.  But  as  force 
would  be  neceffary,  orders  were  ifTued  to  aiTemble  thirty  thoufand 
troops,  the  command  of  which  was  given  to  Broglio,  one  of  the  new- 
intended  miniilry,  who  v/as  recalled  from  the  country  for  tli;s  pur- 
pofe.  But  as  feme  management  was  neceffary  to  keep  this  plan 
concealed  till  the  moment  it  (hould  be  ready  for  execution,  it  is  to 
this  policy  that  a  declaration  made  by  count  D*Artois  muH  be  at- 
tributed, and  winch  is  here  proper  to  be  introduced. 
^  It  could  not  but  occur,  that  wlide  the  mal-contents  continued  to 
re  fort  to  their  chambers  feparate  from  the  national  aiTembly,  that 
more  jealoufy  would  be  excited  than  if  they  v/ere  mixed  with  it, 
and  that  the  plot  md-'ht  be  fufpeded.  But  as  they  had  taken  their 
ground,  and  now  wanted  a  pretence  for  (quitting  it,  it  was  neceffary 
that  one  fhould  be  devifed.  This  was  effectually  accomplifhed  by  a 
declaration  made  by  count  D'Artois,  "  t/.uil  if  thsy  loch  not  a  part 
**  /'/;  the  national  ajfemhly,  thz  life  of  the  king  ivzidd  he  endangered  ;'* 
on  which  they  quitted  their  chambers,  and  mixed  with  the  affemb'y 
in  one  body. 

At  the  time  this  declaration  was  made,  it  was  generally  treated 
as  a  piece  of  abfurdity  in  count  D'Artois,  and  calculated  merely 
to  relieve  the  outftandinq;  members  of  the  two  chambers  from  the  di- 
niinutive  lituation  they  were  put  in  ;  and  if  nothip;x  more  had  fol- 
}owed,  this  conclufion  would  have  been  good.  But  as  things  bcil 
Vol.  1L  O 


t)S  PAINE's    WORKS. 

explain  themfelves  by  their  events,  this  apparent  union  was  only  t 
cover  to  the  machinations  that  were  fecretly  going  on  4  and  the  de- 
claration accommodated  itfelf  to  anfwer  that  purpcfe.  In  a  little 
time  the  national  afTcmbly  found  itfelf  furrounded  by  troops,  and 
thoufands  daily  arriving.  On  this  a  very  ftrong  declaration  was 
made  by  the  national  afiembly  to  the  king,  remonftrating  on  the  im- 
propriety of  the  meafure,  and  demanding  the  reafon.  The  king, 
who  was  not  in  the  fecret  of  this  bufmefs,  as  himfelf  afterwards  de- 
clared, gave  fabdantially  for  anfwer,  that  he  had  no  other  obje<St  in 
view  than  to  preferve  public  tranquility,  which  appeared  to  be  much 
dilbirbed. 

But  in  a  few  days  from  this  time,  the  plot  unravelled  itfelf.  M. 
Neckar  and  the  miniftry  were  difplaced,  and  a  new  one  formed,  of 
the  enemies  of  the  revolution  ;  and  Broglio,  with  betv/een  twenty- 
five  and  thirty  thoufand  foreign  trcop^?,  was  arrived  to  fupport  them. 
Tite  mafis:  was  now  thrown  oft,  and  matters  were  come  to  a  crifis. 
The  event  was,  that  in  the  fpacc  of  three  days,  the  new  miniftry  and 
their  abettors  found  it  prudent  to  fly  the  nation  ;  the  Baftile  was 
taken,  and  Broglio  and  his  foreign  troops  difperfed  ;  as  is  akeady 
related  in  a  former  part  of  this  work. 

There  are  forne  curious  circumftance  in  the  hiftory  of  this  fiiort- 
lived  miniftry,  and  this   fliort-lived  attem.pt  at  a  counter-revolution. 
The  nalace  of  Verfailles,  where  the  court  was  fitting,  was  not  more 
than    four  hundred  yards   diftant  from  the  hallvvhere  the   national 
aiTembly  was  fitting.     The  two  places  were  at  this  moment  like  the 
feoarate  head  q?.arters  of  two  ccmibatant  enemies  ;    yet  the  court  was 
as  perfedly  ignornnt  of  the  information  which  had  arrived  from  Paris 
to  the  national  aiTen-.biy,  as  if  it  had  refided  at  an  hundred  miles  dif- 
tance.     .The  then   m.arquis  de  la  Fayette,  who  (as  has  been  already 
mentioned)  v/as  chofcn  to  prefide  in   die  national  afiembly  en  this 
particular  occafion,   named,    by  order  of  the    afiembly,    three  fuc- 
cefiive  deputations  to  the  king,  on   the  day,   and  up  tp  the  evening 
on  which    the  Baftile  was  takeu,  to  inform  aud    confer    with  him 
en  the  ftate  of  affairs  :   But  the  miiniftry,  who  knew  not  fo  m,uch  as 
that  it  was  attacked,  precluded  all  comm.unication,  and  were  folacing 
themfe'ves  how  dexterouHy  they  had  fucceeded  ;  but  in  a  few  hours 
the  accounts  arrived  fo  thick  and  faft,  that  they  had  to   ftart   from 
their  defies  aid  run  ;   fome  fet  off  in  one  difguife,  and  fome  in  ano- 
ther, and  none  in  their  own  charafter.     Their  anxiety  now  was  to 
outride  the  news,  left  they  fiiould  be  ftopt,  which,  though  it  iiew  faS, 
flew  not  fo  faft  as  theirifelves. 


R  I  G  H  T  S     O  F    IVr  A  N.  99 

It  is  worth  remarking,  that  the  national  afiembly  neither  purfued 
thofe  fugitive  ccnfpirators,  nor  took  any  notice  of  t])ern,  nor  fought 
to  retahate  in  any  fiiape  whatever.  Occupied  with  ellablifning  a 
conftitution  founded  on  the  Rights  of  Man  and  the  authority  of  the 
people,  the  only  authority  on  which  government  has  a  right  to  exiil 
in  any  country,  the  national  alft^mbly  felt  none  of  thofe  mean  pafTions 
which  mark  the  charafter  of  impertinent  governments,  founding 
themfelves  on  their  own  authority,  or  on  the  abfurdity  of  hereditary 
fucceffion.  It  is  the  faculty  of  tlie  human  mind  to  become  what  it 
contemplates,  and  to  atl  in  unifcn  with  its  objedt. 

The  confpiracy  being  thus  difperfed,  one  of  the  firfl:  works  of  the 
national  aifembly,  inflead  of  vindictive  proclamations,  as  has  been  the 
cafe  with  other  governments,  publiihed  a  declaration  of  the  Plights  of 
Man  as  the  balls  on  which  the  new  conftitution  was  to  be  built,  and 
which  is  here  fubjoined. 

DECLARATION    OF    THE    RIGHTS    OF    MAN 
AND  OF   CITIZENS. 

BT  THE  NATIONAL  ASSEMBLY  OF  FP.ANCE, 

**  The  reprefentatives  of  the  people  of  France,  formed  into  a  na- 
tional aflembly,  ccnfidering  that  ignorance,  neglect,  or  contempt  of 
human  rights  are  the  fole  caufes  of  public  misfortunes,  and  corruptions 
of  government,  have  refolved  to  fet  forth,  in  a  folemn  declaration, 
thefe  natural,  imprefcriptible,  and  unalienable  rights  :  That  this  de- 
claration being  conllantly  prefent  to  the  minds  of  the  mem.bers  of  the 
body  focial,  they  may  be  ever  kept  attentive  to  their  rights  and 
their  duties  :  That  the  ads  of  thc*legillative  and  executive  powers 
of  government,  being  capable  of  being  every  moment  compared 
with  the  end  of  pohtical  inftitutions,  may  be  more  refpeded  : 
And  alfo,  that  the  future  claims  of  the  citizens,  being  dircfted  by 
limple  and  inconteflible  principles,  may  always  tend  to  the  mainte- 
nance of  the  conftitution  and  the  general  happinefs, 

"  For  thefe  reafons  the  national  aflembly  doth  recognize  and 
declare,  in  the  prefencc  of  the  Supreme  Being,  and  with  the  hope 
of  his  blefiing  and  favour,  tlie  following  facvcd  rights  of  m.en  and 
of  citizens  : 

"  /.  Men  arc  hern  and  always  continue  free  and  equal  In  reJpeSt  of 
«'  the'ir  rights.    C'lv'd  diflindhnh  therefore  ^  can  he  founded  only  on  J>ullic 


1C& 


/^    i    iv    .— .    S         \'\     \J    --    iv   O. 


«   //.    T'':"   rrc  cf  c'l  pr^Jhicat  (:'^\:h:t'o;:s  :s  ihe  trcfi.-^dkr  cf  the' 
naiural  and  irrpr4cr]pi\i:c  r}^h^s  cfr.'.cn;  a-d  ihrc  rl-Lis  ere  ulctty. 


«'  trz^^nt-,  fccur]t;;,  cii:d  y^fj'ancs  cf  c--^:rcf^o}:. 


r' 

"   in.  The  na.dr.n  is  efhtilicdly  the  f\:rcr  of  all  fv'crrL''V<y  :    nor  f/rn 

«  any  INDIVIXTTAL  or  AN  ^  1'0'^Y  GV  h'llZi,   u  cnliU  to 
*'  any  authorliy  ivhhh  is  r:}.'  /rx/:refs!y  djr<v:dfrcrr  ?/, 

*'  IV.  Pi :;iLic^.-l;l^.-ly  cciiLluJ;;  ll.c -..v  Lr  cf  Joing;wI:atcve;-uces 
**  not  iniiirc  i'iot^i;r.  ''Tlit  ey-^rc'^:  oF  t>:;  nnn-rd  ri;^Kt3  of  eve:y 
**  nian  has  ro  oth'V  ''n''''S  tl-rin  tl;:  f"  vlsch  nie  iitccfiarv  to  \<rcv:z 
**  to  everv  6"^(>i:.'r  m?!)  v^c  frc  t,\.^jC-:c  ox  tiic  fame  i:^L;s;  tii.d  U-cld 
**  lim'iG  are  r  Jt;rr;::i.u!;]e  Oiily  by  tbe  h:'-. 

"  V.  Tre  Ii.vv  oi:-ht  to  r'-obi-it  ci;'v  afions  hurtful  to  A  c'ctv. 
*'  Whul  is  not  prcb)b!^.d  oy  tljc  i;-\v,  {l-ioulcl  not  be  \\\\  dvjrcd ;  vot 
*'  fiicu'd  a:y  cue  be  cc.r;pcikd  to  ibat  vrl.icb  ibc  b;w  cccs  i.ct  re- 
<*  Gube. 

**  YI.  Tbe  law  is  nn  c-xprciTion  of  tbe  w;]]  of  tbe  ccir.irur.ity.  All 
**  citizens  nave  a  ri-:bt  to  concur;  eilb  r  pcrfoniilh'-,  or  by  tb'ir  re- 
«*  prcfciitat'vis,  in  its  ibi;nilion.  It  fl.ould  be  ihQ  farr.e  tc  iJl,  vib^~ 
*■'  tb.ei  u  prot*:cls  c  nan-fnef :  avia  ad  Icing  eqral  Vii  irs  f^^hl^are  eqnaJ^ 
**  cl'gidJj  to  aU  h<.!<LurSy  p'accs^  ^aid  ent-dcjmcniSy  accrr,.dr,^^  to  their  d f- 
"  jlrjiJ  GldidtL-.:;,  iiijL^.ul  ary  oth:r  cjl.nLlkn  tha;j  thai  treated  by  fhdr 
**  ':\.rl::cs  end  tadnts. 

*'  Vil.  Mo  n'ilir.  {]:ov.IJI  be  accr.f.tl,  arrcucd,  ov  hekl  in  ccnline- 
*'  rr.cntj  c:.c:'.:?':  in  cale?  ceternj'ned  by  tbe  law,  and  r.ccording  to  tbe 
*'  ujrii-s  ub'cb  it  b::';  pri'Ic'iibcd.  /.b  wljo  p:G;-no*-e,  udieit,  execiite, 
*•  or  caufj  to  be  e>:eci!tec,  a-.blrary  orders,  ought  to  ]je  punifTicd  ; 
**  and  every  cb'zcn  c:d':d  u-sn  cr  e;ppre]ivnded  by  virtue  of  tbe  law, 
*'  oii_^bt  in'mcuiv-.cly  Lo  cbvy,  aii^l  not  render  birr,[eif  ci;]p:\b!e  by 
^*  rebflAr.ce. 

**  Vill.  The  law  c"r;bt  to  Ir.-pcfe  no  otbcr  pcnab.ies  tban  fucb  as 
**  arc  abfolutely  a::f  evidei:;'/  n-eeffary  :  A^i.d  no  or,e  ongbt  to  be 
"  pup.'u-ed,  bi;--  In  vbiue  cf  a  b.w  pvomu'gntcd  before  tbe  oiTence, 


T     1  1>  1*        1 

ano  »«^g'niy  n^^pa.  r. 


**  iX.  Everv  r,..\  .  1  -id^;'  pvtK.med  ii:ncc..:;t  tiii  be  bas  been  ccn- 
*•  v'lflee,  vdicrcver  b:s  d:tenlioii  b  -corncs  Ii.dcipennble,  all  rigour  to 
«'  bim,  rTiOre  tb-m  is  nx'er.-t.y  to  fecure  bis  pcilon,  ougbt  to  be  pro- 
"  v'df;d  ar-ai-^n.  by  tbe  ii,w. 

*'  X.  b'o  man  c-.u^ht  lo  be  ir,clv.ri.ed  on  account  cf  bis  cpf- 
'*  nioiis,  not  evea  en  account  of  bis  relidious  opinions,  provided  bis 
"  avowal  of  tbcirx  i,OQZ  not  Ci-iluib  tbe  public  order  cflablifiied  by 
«'  law. 


RIGHTS     CF    MAN.  loi 

«  XI.  The  unrcftriiincd  coinmunication  of  tliouglits  an-j  opinions 
**  beln^  one  of  the  moH;  precious  rights  of  man,  every  citizen  m-.y 
*'  fpeak,  write,  and  pabliili  freely,  provided  he  is  refpoufible  for  the 
*'  abufe  of  this  liberty  in  cafes  determined  by  the  law. 

"  XII.  A  public  forc£  being  neccfTary  to  give  fecnrity  to  the 
*'  righ'.s  of  men  and  of  citizens,  that  force  is  inflituted  for  the  benefit 
**  of  the  community,  and  not  for  the  particular  benefit  of  the-  perfjns 
**  with  whom  it  is  intruficd. 

"  XIII.  A  comn;on  contribution  being  neceffary  for  the  fnpport 
*•  of  tlie  pubhc  foree,  and  for  defraying  the  otlrer  expences  of  go- 
"  vernment,  it  ought  to  be  divided  equally  among  the  members  of 
"  the  community,  according  to  their  abilities. 

*'  XIV.  Every  citizen  has  a  right,  either  by  himfclf  or  his  reprc- 
*'  fentative,  to  a  free  voice  In  determining  the  necefHty  of  public  con- 
**  t-'ibutions,  the  appropriation  of  th:m,  and  iheir  amount,  mode  of 
**  aTedment,  and  duration. 

"  XV.  Every  communi::y  has  a  right  to  demand  of  all  its  agents, 
**  an  account  of  their  conduil. 

<*  XVI.  Every  community  in  which  a  fep:u-alion  of  powers  and  a 
"  fecurity  of  rights  is  not  provided  for,  wants  a  conllitution. 

«  XVII.  The  right  to  property  b.ing  inviolable  aid  facred,  no 
"  one  ought  to  be  deprived  of  it,  except  in  cafes  of  evident  public 
"  necefnty  legacy  afeertained,  and  on  cjnditijn  of  a  previous  juil 
**  idcmnity. 

OBSERVATIONS  ON  THE  DECLARATION  OF 

RIGHTS. 

The  three  fird  articles  comprehend  in  general  terms  tlie  whole  of 
a  declaration  of  rights:  All  tlie  fucceeding  articles  either  originate 
out  of  them,  or  follow  as  elucidations.  The  4':h,  5lh,  and  6th,  de- 
fine more  particularly  what  is  only  generally  exprelicd  in  the  la,  2d, 
and  3d. 

The  7th,  8th,  9th,  icth,  and  nth  articles  are  declaratory  of 
prhiciphs  upon  wiiich  laws  fliJl  be  confi.rued  conformable  to  ruhis 
already  declared.  But  it  is  quelbioned  by  fome  Very  good  people  in 
Trance,  as  well  as  in  other  countries,  vrhcther  the  io:h  arliclc  ful- 
fciently  guarantees  the  right  it  is  intended  to  accord  with:  LefiJes 
which,  it  talces  off  from  the  divine  dignity  of  reiigicn,  and  wer.kons 
its  operative  force  upon  the  mind  to  make  it  a  fubje^t  of  liu.nHn  hws. 
It  then  prefcnts  i^iUf  co  aian;  like  ii^hi  Lutrcepted  by  a  cbudy  nic- 


102  PAINE's    WORKS. 

dfum,  in  which  the  fource  of  it  is  obfcured  from  his  fight,  and  he  fees 
nothing  to  reverence  in  the  dufl-ry  rays.* 

The  remaining  articles,  beginning  with  the  twelfth,  are  fubf^nn- 
tially  contained  in  the  principles  cf  the  preceding  articles;  but,  in 
the  particular  fituation  which  France  then  was,  having  to  undo  what 
was  wrong,  as  well  as  to  fet  up  what  was  right,  it  was  proper  to  be 
more  particular  than  what  in  another  condition  of  things  would  be 
necefTary. 

While  the  declaration  of  rights  was  before  the  national  afiembly, 
fome  of  its  members  remarked,  that  if  a  declaration  of  rights  was^ 
publiflicd,  it  fhouldbe  accompanied  by  a  declaration  of  duties.  The 
obfervation  difcovered  a  mind  that  refie&ed,  and  it  only  erred  by  not 
reflecting  far  enough.  A  declaration  of  rights  is,  by  reciprocity, 
a  declaration  of  duties  alfo.  Whatever  is  my  right  as  a  man,  is  alfo 
the  right  of  another;  and  it  becomes  my  duty  to  guarantee,  as  well 
as  to  poffefs. 

The  three  nril  articles  are  the  bafis  of  liberty  as  well  individual  as 
Fxational ;  nor  can  any  country  be  called  free,  whofe  government  does 
not  take  its  beginning  from  the  principles  they  contain,  and  continue 
to  preferve  them  pure  ;  and  the  whole  of  the  declaration  of  rights  is 
of  m.ore  value  to  the  world,  and  will  do  more  good,  than  all  the  laws 
and  ftatutes  that  have  yet  been  promulgated. 

In  the  declaratory  exordium   which  prefaces  the  declaration  of 

*  77'^/"^  is  a  Ji^igle  idea,  ivhkhy  if  it  firihes  rightly  upon  the  m'lnd^ 
either  in  a  legal  or  a  religious  fcr.fe,  'will  prevent  any  man,  or  any  lody 
of  men,  or  any  government,  from,  going  tvroiig  on  the  fuljcEt  of  religion; 
*ivhich  is,  that  before  any  human  irfiitutlons  of  government  ivcre  knoivn 
in  the  nvorld,  there  exifed,  if  I  may  fo  exprefs  it^  a  compaEi  letiveen  God 
and  man,  from  the  beginning  of  time ;  and  that  as  the  relation  and  cond'i- 
iiui  'which  man  in  his  individual  ptri^GnJlarids  in  towards  his  maher  can- 
not be  changed,  or  any  ^ivays  altered  by  any  human  laws  or  human  autho- 
rity, that  religious  devotion,  <which  is  a  part  of  tlxis  compaci,  cannot  fo 
much  as  he  w.ade  a  fiibjcd  of  human  laws  ;  and  that  all  laws  mtfl  conform 
themfelves  to  this  prior  ex'fing  compact,  and  not  affuw.e  to  make  the  com- 
pa3  conform  to  the  laws,  which,  bcfides  being  htman,  are  fubfequent  there^ 
to.  Thefrfi  an  of  man,  when  he  looked  around  and faw  htmfelf  a  crea- 
ture which  he  did  not  make,  and  a  world furri/ljed for  his  reception,  mvft 
have  been  devotion;  and  devotion  nnijl  ever  continue  facred  to  every  indi- 
vidual man,  as  it  appears  right  to  him  ;  and govemmmts  do  mf chief  by 
interfering* 


RIGHTS    OF    MAN.  103 

rights,  we  fee  the  folemn  and  n-iajeRic  fpeftacle  of  a  nation  opemng 
its  commlffion,  under  the  aufpiccs  (>f  I'ls  creator,  to  eftablifh  a  go- 
vernment ;  a  fcene  fo  new,  and  fo  tranfcendantly  unequalled  by  any 
thing  in  the  European  world,  that  the  name  of  a  revohititm  is  dimi- 
nutive of  its  character,  and  it  rifts  into  a  regeneration  of  man.  \\  hat 
are  the  prefent  governments  of  Europe,  but  a  fcene  of  iniquity  and 
oppreilion?  What  is  that  of  England?  Does  not  its  own  inliabitants 
fay,  it  is  a  market  where  eveiy  man  has  his  price,  and  where  corrup- 
tion is  common  traffic,  at  the  expence  of  a  deluded  people?  No  won- 
der, then,  that  the  French,  revolution  is  tradnced.  Had  it  confined 
itfelf  merely  to  the  de{lru£lion  of  flagrant  defpotifm,  perhaps  Mr. 
Burke  and  fome  others  had  been  filent.  Their  cry  now  is,  •'  It  has 
"  gone  too  far  :"  That  is,  it  has  gone  too  far  for  them.  It  ftare^ 
corruption  in  the  face,  and  the  venal  tribe  are  all  alarmed.  Tlieir 
fear  difcovers  itfelf  in  their  outrage,  and  they  are  but  publifhing  the 
groans  of  a  wounded  vice.  But  from  fuch  oppofition,  the  French 
revolution,  inftead  of  fuffering,  receives  an  homage.  The  more  it 
is  ilruck,  the  more  fparks  it  will  emit  ;  and  the  fear  is,  it  will  not 
be  ftruck  enousfh.  It  has  nothin<j  to  dread  from  attacks.  Truth 
has  given  it  an  ellablifhment;  and  time  will  record  it  with  a  name  as 
lailing  as  its  own. 

Having  now  traced  the  progrefs  of  the  French  revolution  through 
moft  of  its  principal  ftages,  from  its  commencement  to  the  taking  of  the 
Ballile,  and  its  eftabhfhment  by  the  declaration  of  rights,  I  will  clofc 
the  fubjeft  with  the  energetic  apoilrophe  of  M.  de  la  Fayette — May 
this  great  inonument  ralfed  to  Uherty^  fcrve  as  a  kjj'on  to  the  opprcjfor^  and 
Mn  example  to  the  opprejfed  !* 

MISCELLANEOUS  CHAPTER. 

To  prevent  interrupting  the  argument  in  the  preceding  part  of 
this  work,  or  the  narrative  that  follows  it,  I  referved  fome  obferva- 
tions  to  be  thrown  together  into  a  mifcellaneous  chapter ;  by  which 
Variety  might  not  be  cenfured  for  confufion.  Mr.  Burke's  book  is 
all  mifcellany.  His  intention  was  to  make  an  attack  on  the  French 
revolution  :  But  inftead  of  proceeding  with  an  orderly  arrangement, 

*See  pa^e  43  of  this  nvorlc. — N.  B.  S'mce  the  taking  the  Bafiile,  the 
occurrences  have  been  puU'iJJoed ;  hut  the  matters  recorded  In  this  narrative 
are  prior  to  that  period ;  and  fom:  of  them,  as  may  enfly  le  fen,  can  he 
hilt  very  little  Inoiun, 


I04  P  A  I  N  E  '  s    W  O  R  K  S. 

he  has  floritie.^  It  with  a  mob  of  Iclcac,  tumblir.g  over  and  deftroying 
o.ie  ancihcr,     ^ 

■  Eat  this  coufufion  atui  contradiclion  In  Mr.  Burk's  book,  Is  eaf'^y 
accounted  for.  When  a  man  In  a  long  caufe  attempts  to  fleer  his 
ccurfe  by  <-ny  thing  eh*e  than  fonie  popular  truth  or  principle,  he  Is 
fure  to  be  'OlI:.  It  is  beyond  the  compafs  of  his  capr.clty,  to  keep 
all  the  parts  of  an  a'Tument  too-sther,  and  make  them  unite  In  one 
iffue,  by  any  other  means  than  having  this  guide  always  In  viev/. 
Neither  miemory  nor  Invention  will  fupply  the  Vvant  of  it.  The  for- 
irer  fails  him,  and  the  latter  betrays  him. 

•  Notwiihib.nding  the  nonfenfe,  for  It  deferves  no  better  n?me,  that 
yU-  Burke  has  alfcrted  about  hereditary  rights,  and  hereditary  fuc- 
ce'lon,  arKlLbat  a  nation  has  not  a  right  to  form  a  governm.tnt  for 
itf-!f ;  It  happened  to  fall  In  his  way  to  give  fom.e  account  of  what 
rovernrriCPit  Is.      **  Coicrnmentj  f^ys  he,   is   a  conlnnjance  of  human 

Admitting  that  government  is  a  contrivance  of  hum.an  wifdcm..  It 
mull  nece.Tarilv  follow,  that  hereditary  fuccjlTion,  and  hereditary 
rif;"ht3  (as  they  are  called)  can  make  no  part  of  it,  becaufe  It  Is  Impcf- 
fible  to  m.ake  wifdom  hereditary  ;  and  on  the  other  hand,  t.bat  can- 
no  l  be  a  wife  contrivance,  which  In  Its  operation  miay  commit  the 
governm.ent  of  a  nation  to  the  wifdom  of  an  Idect.  Tlie  grouvid 
which  Mr.  Burke  now  takes  is  fatril  to  every  pan  of  his  caufe.  The 
ari'-iiment  chanties  from  hereditcirv  r'n-lus  to  herfditary  vv^ifdcm  ;  and 
the  queilion  Is,  Who  is  the  wKcii  man  ?  He  miuil  now  fhew  that 
cvfry  one  In  the  line  of  hereditary  fuccefhon  was  a  Solomon,  or  his 
title  is  not  good  to  be  a  king.  What  a  ftroke  has  INIr.  Burke  now^ 
ma.ie  !  to  uf^  a  failor's  plirafe  he  \\?i.&  fiunhhed  the  dschy  and  fcarctly 
left  a  name  legible  in  the  hll  of  kings;  a)id  he  has  m.cwed  down 
and  tb.inned  the  houfe  of  peers,  with  a  fcythe  as  forn:idable  as  death 
and  lime. 

But,  Mr.  Burke  appears  to  have  been  aware  of  this  retort,  and 
he  has  taken  care  to  guard  againft  It,  by  making  governm.ent  to  be 
not  only  a  contii'vajice  of  human  wifdom,  but  a  mcnopoly  of  wifdom. 
He  puts  the  nation  as  fools  on  one  fide,  and  places  his  government 
of  wifdom,  all  wife  men  of  Gotham,  on  the  other  fide  ;  and  he  then 
proclaims,  and  fays,  that  "  men  have  a  RIGHT  that  their  wants 
Jhould  he  provided  jlr  by  this  iv'>fdom.^'  Having  thus  miade  proclama- 
tion, he  next  proceeds  to  explain  to  tkem  what  tlieir  tvaiits  are,  and 
alfo  what  their  rights  are.  In  tin's  he  has  fucceeded  dexteroufly,  for 
he  m.akes  tlieir  wnnts  to  be  a  luant  cf  wifdom  ;  but  as  this  is  but  coM 


RIGHTS     OF    M  A  N.  105 

oc3mfoit,  he  then  informs  thetn,  th:it  they  have  a  rl^ht  (net  to  :<ny 
of  the  wifiom)  but  to  be  cfoverned  by  it :  And  in  order  to  iiTi.jvrla 
them,  v/ilh  a  fuJcnin  reverence  for  this  rrionopoly  government  c  f  v.  if- 
doni,  and  of  its  vaft  capacity  for  all  puvpc)fes,  poiriMe  or  impoPiible, 
right  or  wrong,  he  proceeds  with  ailrolcgical  myr.erioiis  iir.pcrtaf;ce, 
to  tfll  to  them  its  powers  in  thefe  words — "  The  riglitt;  of  m-f  n  in 
*'  government  are  their  advantages  ;  a-id  thefe  are  often  in  bnlarices. 
*'  between  differer.ccs  of  good  ;  and  in  coiP.pron^j'ies  f-n-icrinieG  be- 
**  tween  g^G/l  and  evil,  and  fornotimes  betv/een  evil  and  evil.  Pc] - 
*'  tical  reafon  is  a  compuUng  principle  ;  adding,  fiibt ranting,  n.ultiply- 
*'  ing,  and  dividing,  morally  and  not  metaphyfically  or  niatlien.aLi- 
"  cally,  true  moral  demonftrHtions," 

As  the  wondering  audience  wh.oir.  Mr.  Eurke  fi';  p  fes  hirriVif 
talking  to,  may  not  underRand  all  tliis  j^.rgon,  I  will  undertake  to  be 
its  interpreter.  The  meaning  then,  good  people,  of  all  this  is,  7 hat 
government  is  gc-venied  ly  no  principle  ivhalcver  :  V  hat  It  can  make 
evil  goody  or  good  evil,  jvjt  as  it  pkofcs.  In  jlort,  that  government  i:f 
arbitrary  panver. 

But  there  are  fome  things  which  Mr.  Burliehas  forgotten,  Firjfy 
he  has  not  Tflewn  where  the  wifiom  originally  came  from:  Andy^- 
condly,  he  has  not  faewn  by  what  auihority  it  fir  11  began  to  ad.  In 
the  manner  he  introduced  the  miatler,  it  is  either  government  ftealing 
ivifdom,  or  wildom  ileiiling  government.  It  is  withouc  an  origin, , 
and  its  povv'ers  without  authority.      In  fliort,  it  is  ufurpation. 

Whether  it  be  from  a  fenfe  of  fname,  or  from  a  co:;ic!ou(nei3  of 
fom.e  radical  defe<£l  in  government  ncceiTary  to  be  kept  out  of  fight, 
or  from  both,  or  from  any  other  caiife,  I  undertake  not  to  determine; 
but  {>d  it  is,  that  a  monarchical  reafar.er  never  traces  government  to 
its  fource,  or  from  its  fcnrce.  It  is  one  of  \h'Z  f'Ahlclnhs  by  wliich 
he  may  be  known.  A  thoufand  years  hence,  thofe  v.dio  fhall  live  in 
Am.erica  or  In  France  will  look  back  with  contemplative  pride  on 
the  origin  of  their  governments,  and  fay,  This  was  the  worh  of  our 
glorious  ancejJors  !  But  what  can  a  mona'-chical  talker  fay  ?  Wliat 
has  he  to  exult  in  ?  Alas!  he  has  nothing.  A  certain  fcmething 
forbids  him  to  look  back  to  a  beginning,  led  fome  robber  or  fome 
Robin  Hood  (hould  rife  from,  the  long  obfcurity  of  time,  and  f?;y,  / 
am  the  origin.  Hard  as  Mr.  Burke  laboured  under  the  reg^ncy 
bill  and  hereditary  fucceiTion  two  years  ago,  and  m.uch  as  he  dived 
for  precedents,  he  Hill  had  not  boldnefs  enough  to  bring  up  William 
frf  Normandy,  and  iiiv,  There  is  the  head  cf  the  Ijr^th.re  is  t'ji  fauntain 
Vol.  II.  '  P 


tc6  F  A  I  N  E  ^  3    W  O  R  K  b*. 

of  honour,  tlie  fon  cf  a  proHitute,   and  the  plunderer  of  the  Engliin 
ration. 

The  opinions  of  men  with  refpecl  to  government,  are  changing 
faft  in  ail  countries.  The  revolutions  of  America  and  France  have 
thrown  a  beam  of  light  over  the  world,  v.'hich  reaches  into  man, 
I'hc  enormous  expence  of  govri^nnients  have  provoked  people  to 
think  by  making  them  feel:  And  when  once  the  veil  begins  to  rend, 
it  admits  not  of  repair.  Ignorance  is  of  a  peculiar  nature:  Once 
difpelled,  it  is  impoiTible  to  re-eftabliih  it.  It  is  not  originally  a 
thing  of  itfclf,  but  is  only  the  abf.^nce  of  knowledge  ;  and  though 
man  may  be  kept  ignoiant,  h:;  cannot  be  made  ignorant.  The  mind, 
in  difcoverinir  truth,  afts  in  the  fame  m.anner  as  it  acls  through  the 
eye  m  difccvern-g  an  o^;je(fl;;  v,dien  once  any  objeft  has  been  feen,  it 
is  a-npolTible  to  put  the  nvind  back  to  the  fame  condition  it  v/as  in 
before  it  faw  ft.  Tho-fe  who  talk  of  a  counter-revolution  \x\  France, 
lliev/  how  little  they  underfland  of  man.  There  does  not  exift  in 
the  compafs  cf  language,  an  arrangement  of  words  to  exprefs  fo 
mnch  as  ihc  means  of  effefting  a  ccnnter-revolution.  The  meana. 
ir.ufl  be  an  obliteration  of  knov.'ledge  ;  and  it  h?.3  never  yet  beer* 
difcoveredj  Iicw  to  make  man  v.nhnon.v  his  knowledge,  cr  unth'inh  his. 
thoucrhts. 

ivir.  Burke  is  labouring  in  vain  to  (lop  the  progrefs  of  knowledge; 
at;d  It  comes  witli  the  worfe  PTace  from  him,  as  there  is  a  certaiu 
tranf.i(rLion  knovvu  \'\  tlie  city,  which  renders  him  fufpefted  of  being 
a  pcnfioner  \\\  a  fictitious  name.  This  may  account  ior  fom.e  flrange 
djclrine  he  has  advanced  in  his  book,  which,  though  he  points  it 
a;  tl-e  revolution  foeiety,  is  eireclually  diredtcd  againft  the  whole 
nation. 

"  The  kii)'-'  of  Enola-id,"  favs  he,  *'  holds  his  croum  (for  it  does* 
*'  not  belong  to  the  nation,  according  to  Mr.  Buvke)  in  cotitempt  of 
*'  the  choice  of  tlie  revolution  fociely,  who  have  not  a  ilngle  vote  for 
*'  a  kir;g  among  them  eitiier  indi-vidually  or  crJkcll'vely  ;  imd  his  raa- 
•'  jcdy's  iieirs,  each  in  their  time  and  order,  will  come  to  the  crown 
*■  iv'ilh  the  fame  contempt  of  tlieir  choice,  with  which  his  majelly  has 
"  fr.cceeded  to  that  w!:ich  he  no'.v  wears.'* 

x\s  to  who  is  kino;  in  Encknd  or  elfjwherf,  or  wliether  there  is 
any  at  a'l,  or  whether  the  people  choofe  a  Cherokee  chief,  or  a  Hef- 
fian  hudar  for  a  king,  rs  not  a  matter  that  I  trouble  m.yfelf  about,  be 
that  to  themfclves;  but  with  refpe£l  to  the  doih'ine,  fo  far  as  it  re- 
lates to  the  rights  of  men  and  nations,  it  is  as  abominable  as  any  thin^ 
ever  uttered  in  the  moll  enH.ivtd  country  under  heaven.     Whether  it 


:R  I  G  H  T  S     OF    M  A  N.  107 

founds  worfe  to  my  ear,  by  not  being  accuRomecl  to  he^ir  fucb  def- 
j^otiim,  than  what  it  does  to  the  car  of  another  perfon,  1  ?.rn  not  fo 
well  a  JLid^e  of;  bat  cf  its  abominable  principle,  I  am  at  no  lofs  to 
jiulgc. 

It  is  not  the  revolution  fociety  that  Mr.  Burke  means;  it  is  the 
nation,  as  well  in  its  original,  as  in  its  rsprefciitatl've  charatler;  and  he 
lias  taken  care  to  make  himfclf  underftood,  by  faying  that  they  have 
not  a  vote  either  colleEi'ively  or  in dl'u'i dually.  The  revcJurion  fociety 
is  compofed  of  citizens  of  all  denominations,  and  of  members  of  both 
houfes  cf  parliament,  and  confequently,  if  there  is  not  a  right  to  vote 
in  any  of  the  characters,  there  can  be  no  right  to  any,  cither  in  the 
nation  or  in  its  parliament.  This  ought  to  he  a  Ccuuion  to  every 
country,  how  it  imports  foreign  families  to  be  kings.  It  is  fomewhat 
curious  to  obferve  thct  althoTigh  the  people  of  England  have  beei-i  in 
the  habit  of  talking  about  kings,  it  is  always  a  foreign  houfe  of 
kings;  hating  foreigners  yet  governed  by  them.  It  is  now  the 
houfe  of  Brunfwick,  one  cf  the  petty  tribes  of  Germany. 

It  has  hitherto  been  the  pra6lice  of  the  Englifh  parliaments,  to 
regulate  what  was  called  the  fuccefiion,  (taking  it  for  granted,  that 
the  nation  then  continued  to  accord  to  the  form  of  annexing:  a  m.onar- 
chical  branch  to  its  government  ;  for  v.'ithout  this,  the  parliament 
could  not  have  had  authority  to  liave  fent  either  to  Holland  or  to 
Hanover,  or  to  irnpofe  a  king  upon  the  nation  againll  its  will).  And 
this  m.uft  be  the  utm.oft  limit  to  which  parliament  can  go  upon  the 
cafe  ;  but  the  right  of  the  nation  goes  to  the  'zvboJe  cafe,  bv^caufe  it 
has  the  right  of  changing  its  whole  form  of  government.  The  right 
•of  a  parhament  is  only  a  right  in  truft,  a  right  by  delegation,  and  that 
but  from  a  very  fmali  part  of  the  nation ;  and  one  of  its  houfes  has  not 
even  this.  Bat  the  right  of  the  nation  is  an  original  right,  as  uni- 
verfal  as  taxation.  The  nation  i«  the  paym.ailer  of  every  thing,  and 
every  thing  mud  conform  to  its  general  will. 

I  remember  taking  notice  of  a  fpeech  in  what  is  called  the  Enghfh 
houfe  of  peers,  by  the  then  earl  of  Shelburne,  and  I  think  it  was  at 
the  time  he  was  miniiler,  which  is  applicable  to  this  cafe.  I  do  not 
■diredly  charge  my  m.eraon,'^  with  every  particular;  but  the  words  and 
the  purport  as  nearly  as  I  remember,  w^ere  the-fe  .;  TIjat  ihe  form 
ef  a  government  tvas  a  tnatter  nvholly  nt  the  toil!  of  a  zation  at  all  times: 
that  if  it  chofe  a  monarchical  formy  it  had  a  righ  to  have  it  fo,  and  if 
it  after'-juards  chofe  to  he  a  repuUic,  it  had  a  right  to  he  a  repuhlic,  anditt 
fnv  to  a  hing,   ive  have  no  longer  any  occafon  Jor  you, 

WkeD  Hi.  Earke  fays  tiiat  "  kia  majelly's  heirs  and  fuccefibrs. 


jcS  P  A  T  N  r '  s    V.^  0  R  i:  s. 

*<  cich  i.i   tucir  time    and  order,    w'U    con^:e    to  tb<:  crown   will;  ihr 
**  fame  c^ntcm'-t  of  their  choice  wiih  vvhicli  his  n^aicHy  has  fucceeded 
*'  to  that  he  wears,"  it  is  fayi'.i'T  too  much  even  to  the  humbled  indi- 
vidual in  the  country;  part  of  whole  daily  labour  goes  towards  m?,k- 
■in7  up   the    niihon    flerling   a-year,    whicli   the   country  gives  a  per- 
fon  it  ftyles  a  khig.      G  )vernmei'.t  wi:h  inioleuce,  h  G.^ijDOLiiin  ;   but' 
vrhen  contempt  is  add.^d,  it  berome.s  worfe;  aivil  to  o:'y  for  contempt," 
is  the  excefs    (,t    fi  jverv.      1'his  fpeeies   of  r^-ovcrnrnei't   comes   from 
G^rmmy  ;    and  ren^dnds    rxie  of  \v;;at  one  of  the  Brunfwick  ioldiers 
told  me,   \^ho  was  trsken  pnfoner  hy  tl>e  Americans  v^  the  late  war; 
"  Ah  !"  hiid  he,  **  America  in  a  fine  iree  country,  it  is  worth  people's- 
*'  lh:;ht'no-  fa-  ;   I  kv.ovr  ihe  diilerence  by  knowinf^  my  own  ;    jn  rny 
^*  country,   if  the  prince  f;rr,  en.t  ilraw,   we  <-at  draw." — God  help 
th-it  countrr,  thcu;/hi  I,  be  it  En^hmd  or  clfewhere,  whofe  libertiei^ 
?.re  to  be  Dro^ecled  by  Genr.an  principles  of  goveriiment  and  princea 
oi  i5runiV/ici:, 

.As  Mr.  E:rrke  fomctime?.  fpeakr^  of  Enpdand,  fometimes  of  France, 
and  fometimes  of  tl'.e  w<  rid,  ard  of  (government  in  p;enerrd,  it  i? 
diniculL  to  anlv.er  his  hook  wiihont  apparent]]'-  meet  in  ^  him  on  the 
fame  ;rronnd.  Aillhoug^h  principles  ot  governmenc  are  general  fub- 
<ecls,  it  is  next  to  impoiTible  in  ra-iny  cafes  to  feparate  them  from 
the  idea  of  plnce  and  circnmitance  ;  and  the  more  fo  when  circiun- 
Hauces  are  put  for  arguments,  wliich  is  frequently  the  cofe  with  Mr. 
B:-  e. 

In  the  former  part  of  his  book,  addreiling  himfelf  to  the  people 
of  France,  he  fays,  '*  No  e>.pe'-ience  has  taught  us,  (meaning  the  Eng- 
**  iiih),  that  in  any  other  courfe  or  m.cthod  than  that  of  an  hcreSfary 
**  croivriy  can  our  liberties  be  reg'.darly  perpetuated  and  preferred 
"  facred  as  our  hcreilitnry  right.'''*  1  aflc  Mr.  Burke  who  is  to  take 
them  awa\  ?  M.  de  la  Fayette,  in  fpeaking  to  France,  <ays,  '*  For  a 
**  nation  to  he  free  il  is  fiifirient  that  Jhe  nvlUs  jV."  But  Mr.  Euike 
reprefents  England  as  wanting  capac'ty  to  take  care  of  itfelf ;  c.id 
that  its  liberti'/s  muft  be  taken  care  of  by  a  king,  holdint^;  it  in  *'  con- 
**  tempt."  If  Engla!:d  is  funk  to  this,  it  ia  prepruing  itfelf  to  cat 
iflraw,  as  in  Hanover  or  In  Bsunfwick.  But  belides  the  folly  of  the 
ccclaration,  it  happens  that  the  fafts  are  ail  againil  Mr.  Burke.  It 
■was  by  the  government  being  hercciitary^  that  the  lib^^rLies  of  the  peo- 
ple were  endangered.  Ch .Ties  the  firft,  and  James  the  fecond,  are  in- 
ftruices  of  this  truth;  ^-^et  neither  of  them  went  fo  far  as  to  hold  the 
nativii  in  contempt. 

As  It  ib  iumctimc3  of  advantage  lo  the  people  of  one  country,  t« 


RIGHTS     CF     MAN.  1C9 

hear  \vh?X  thofc  of  other  conntries  hive  to  fay  rcrpe6li:ig^it,  it  is  pofi 
fi^'j  that  the  people  of  France  m?.y  learn  fomething  from  Mr.. 
Brke's  book,  and  that  the  people  of  Enjrland  ir.ay  alfo  team  (oitjc- 
t'  ■  I'j;  from  the  anfwers  it  will  occaiion.  When  nations  tall  out  about 
f  dom,  a  wide  field  of  d-bate  is  opened.  The  argument  commences 
M'  ',h  the  rights  of  war,  without  its  evils;  and  as  kiiovvhuge  is  the 
o^-i;6l  contended  fc.r,  the  party  that  fuftains  the  defeat    obtr.ins  the 

Mr.  Burke  ta^.ks  about  w]i^t  he  calls  an  hereditary  crov-n,  as  if 
it  were  fome  production  of  nature  ;  or  as  if,  like  time,  r.  had  a  power 
to  operate  not  only  independent,  but  in  foitc  of  man  ;  or  vs.  if  it 
were  a  thing  or  a  fubjedt  iiniverfaily  confented  to.  Alas  !  it  has, 
none  of  thofe  properties,  but  is  the  reverfe  ef  them  all.  It  i:.  a  thing 
in  imagination,  tht  propriety  of  v^liich  is  m.orethan  doubted,  and  the 
legality  of  which  in  a  few  years  will  be  denied. 

But,  to  arrange  this  matter  in  a  clearer  view  than  what  p-cneral 
cxpreilions  can  convey,  it  will  be  necciTary  to  ilate  the  diRincl  heads 
under  which  (what  is  called)  an  hereditary  crown,  or,  m.ore  properly 
fpcaking,  an  hereditary  fuccefiion  to  th>f  government  of  a  nation,  can 
be  crnfidered  -.  which  are, 

F irfl,  The  right  of  a  parlicubr  family  to  cflablifh  itfclf. 

Secondly,   The  right  of  a  nation  to  eilabhTh  a  particular  fam.ily. 

With  refped  to  ihefif  of  thefe  h<?ads,  that  of  a  family  eftablifhing 
itfelf  with  hereditary  powers  on  its  own  authority,  and  independent 
of  the  confent  of  a  nation,  all  men  will  concur  in  calling  it  defpo- 
tif  n  ;  and  it  would  be  trefpafllng  on  their  iinderPcanding  to  attempt 
to  prove  it. 

But  they^r(9;z^hcad,  that  of  a  nation  efiiibliflring  a  particular  family 
with  hereditary  po'wers,  does  not  prefent  itfelf  as  defpctifm  on  the 
iird  reflexion  ;  but  if  men  will  permit  a  fecond  rent^caon  to  take 
place,  and  carry  that  refie^licn  forward  but  one  remove  out  of  their 
own  perfons  to  th'jt  of  their  offspring,  they  will  then  fee  that  licre- 
ditary  fuccefiion  becomes  in  its  confcquences  the  fam.e  defpotifm  to 
otlicrs,  v/hich  they  reprobated  for  themfelves.  It  (Operates  to  pre- 
ckde  the  confent  of  the  fucceeding  generation,  and  the  precluficn  of 
confent  is  defpotifm.  When  the  perfon  who  at  anv  time  fhall  he  in 
poiTelTion  of  a  government,  or  thofe  who  Hand  in  fuccefnon  to  h.in% 
ihall  fay  to  a  nation,  I  hold  this  power  in  "contempt"  of  von,  it 
iigniiies  not  on  what  authority  he  pretends  to  fay  it.  It  is  no  relief, 
but  an  ag-gravation  to  a  perfon  \n  flavery,  to  reflefl  that  he  was  fold 
fey  his  parent ;  and  as  that  which  heigh'.. 113  ihe  criminality  of  an  acl 


no  MAINE'S     V/ORKS-. 

cannot  be  produced  to  prove  the  legality  of  it,  hereditary  fucccfiion 
cannot  be  eftablirtied  as  a  legal  thing. 

In  order  to  arrive  at  a  more  jjerfecl  decifion  on  this  head,   it  will 

be  proper  to  conlider  the  generation  which  undertakes  to  eftabhih  a 

family  with  hereditary  po^^vers^  a-part  and  feparate  from  tlie  generations 

which  are  to  follow  ;  and  alio  to  connder  the  character  in  which  the 

JJtjl  generation  afts  w^ith  refpe6l  to  fucceeding  generations. 

The  generation  vrhich  firll  felccts  a  perfon,  and  puts  him  at  the 
head  of  its  government,  either  with  the  title  of  king,  or  any  other 
diitinvflion,  ails  its  c-tun  chilce,  be  it  wife  or  foolifb,  as  a  free  agent  for 
itfelf.  The  perfcn  fo  let  up  is  not  hereditary,  but  felefted  and  ap- 
pointed ;  and  the  generation  who  ftts  him  up,  does  not  live  under 
an  hereditary  government,  but  under  a  government  of  its  own  choice 
and  eftablirnment.  Were  the  generation  who  fets  him  up,  and  the 
perfon  fo  ftt  up,  to  live  for  ever,  it  never  could  become  hcreditaiy 
fuccefiion  ;  hereditary  fucccilion  can  only  fellow  on  death  of  the  firfl 
parties. 

As  therefore  hereditary  fucccfiion  is  out  of  the  quefcion  with  re- 
fpeft  to  xhtjirjl  generation,  we  have  now  to  confider  the  character  in 
which  that  generation  adls  with  refped.  to  the  commencing  generation, 
«.nd  to  all  lucceeding  cnes. 

It  affumes  a  character,  to  which  it  has  neither  right  nor  title.  It 
changes  itfelf  from  a  kgjjlator  to  a  iejluior,  and  affedts  to  make  its  will, 
Vv'iiich  is  to  have  operation  after  the  demife  of  the  makers,  to  be- 
<iueath  the  government ;  and  it  not  only  attempts  to  bequeath,  but 
to  eilablifli  on  the  fuccteding  generation,  a  new  and  different  form  of 
governm.ent  under  udiieh  iticlf  lived.  Itfelf,  as  is  already  obferved, 
lived  not  under  an  hereditary  government,  but  under  a  government  of 
i:s  own  choice  and  eftabhrnment  ;  and  it  now  attempts,  by  virtue  of 
a  will  and  teilament  (and  which  it  has  not  authority  to  make}  to 
take  from  the  commencing  generation,  and  all  future  ones,  the  rights 
;iad  free  agency  by  which  itfelf  a6led. 

But,  exclufive  of  the  right  which  any  generation  has  to  a^t  col- 
lectively as  a  tellator,  the  objects  to  which  it  applies  itfelf  in  this  cafe, 
are  not  within  the  compafs  of  any  law,  or  of  any  will  or  teilament. 

The  rights  of  men  in  fociety,  are  neither  devifable,  nor  trans- 
ferable, nor  annihiiable  but  are  defcendable  only  ;  and  it  is  not  in  the 
power  cf  any  generation  to  intercept  finally,  and  cut  off  the  defcent. 
If  the  prefent  generation,  or  any  other,  are  difpofed  to  be  flaves,  it 
docs  not  leffen  tlie  right  of  the  fucceeding  generation  to  be  free  : 
VvVongs  caaiict  have  a  l^gal  defcent.    V/hca  Mr.  Euike  attempts  t« 


RIGHTS    OF    MAN.  in 

maintain,  that  the  EngliJJo  nation  did  at  the  revolution  of  1688  moji  fo- 
lemidy  renounce  end  abdicate  their  rights  for  themfelvcS)  and  for  all  their 
poflerlty  for  cjer,  he  fpeaks  a  language  that  merits  not  reply,  and 
which  can  only  excite  contempt  for  his  proilitute  principles,  or  pity 
for  his  ignorance. 

In  whatever  light  hereditary  fucceffion,  as  growing  out  of  the  will 
and  tellament  of  lome  former  generation,  prefents  itfdf,  it  is  an  ab- 
furdity.  A  cannot  make  a  will  to  take  from  B  the  property  of  B, 
and  give  it  to  C;  yet  tliis  is  tlie  manner  in  which  (what  is  called) 
hereditary  fuccefiion  by  law,  operates.  A  certain  former  generation 
made  a  will  to  take  away  the  rights  of  the  commencing  generation 
and  all  future  ones,  and  convey  thofe  riglits  to  a  third  pt^rfon,  who 
afterwards  comes  forward,  and  tells  them,  in  Mr.  Burke's  language, 
that  they  have  no  rights,  that  their  rights  are  already  bequeathed  to 
him,  and  that  he  will  govern  in  conten//>t  of  them.  Frcm  fuch  prin- 
ciples,  and  fuch  ignorance,  good  Lord  deliver  the  vrcrlci ! 

But,  after  all,  what  is  this  metaphor  called  a  crown,  or  rather, 
what  is  raoiiarchy  ?  Is  it  a  thing,  or  is  it  a  name,  or  is  It  a  ndul  ? 
Is  it  "  a  contrivance  of  human  wifdom,'*  or  of  human  craft,  to  ob- 
tain money  from  a  nation  under  fpecious  pretences  ?  Is  ,l  a  tL  ;^ 
neceffary  to  a  nation  ?  If  it  is,  in  what  does  that  necefiity  confif}, 
what  fervice  does  it  perform,  what  is  its  bufmefs,  and  what  are  its 
merits  ?  Doth  the  virtue  confifl  in  the  metaphor,  or  in  the  man  ? 
Doth  the  goldfmith  that  makes  the  crown,  make  the  virtue  alfo  ? 
Doth  it  operate  like  Fortunatus*s  wifning  cap,  or  Karlcquin's 
wooden  fword  ?  Doih  it  make  a  man  a  conjuror  ?  In  fine,  what  i& 
it  ?  It  appears  to  be  a  fomethin-g  going  much  out  of  fafnion,  falling 
into  ridicule,  and  rejected  in  fome  countries  both  as  unnecefTary  and 
expcnfive.  In  America  it  is  confidered  as  an  abfurdity,  and  in  France 
it  has  fo  far  dechned,  that  the  goodnefs  of  the  man,  and  the  refpefh 
for  his  perfonal  charafter,  are  the  only  things  that  preicrve  the  ap- 
pearance of  its  exiilence. 

If  goveniment  be  what  Mr.  Burke  defcribes  it,  "  a  cootiivance  of 
human  wildom,"  I  might  alk  him.,  if  wifdom  v/as  at  fuch  a  low  ebb- 
in  England,  that  it  was  become  neccfiary  to  import  it  from  Holland 
and  from  Hanover  ?  But  1  will  do  the  country  the  jaib'ce  to  fay, 
that  was  not  the  cafe  ;  and  even  if  it  was,  it  miftook  tiie  cargo.  The 
wifdom  of  every  coimtry,  when  properly  exerted,  is  fuliicient  for  ad 
its  purpofos  :  and  there  could  exid  no  more  real  occafion  in  England 
to  have  fent  for  a  Dutch  fiadtholder,  or  a  German  elector,  than  there 
vas  in  America  to  have  done  a  fimllar  thing^.      If  a  country  does  not 


112  P  A  IN  E's    WO  ?^  K  S. 

underhand  ks  own  affairs,  how  is  a  foreigner  to  underftand  tliem,  who- 
knovvs  neither  its  laws,  its  manners,  nor  its  lanjruaee  ?  If  there  ex- 
iiled  a  n-.an  fo  tranfcendanlly  wife  above  all  others,  that  his  wifdom 
was  necefTary  to  inftrutt  a  nation,  fome  reafon  might  be  offered  for 
monarcry  ;  but  wher.  we  call  our  eyes  about  a  country,  and  obfei  ve 
how  every  part  undcrftands  its  own  affairs  ;  and  when  we  look  arouad 
the  world,  and  fee  that  of  all  mf  n  in  it,  the  race  of  kings  are  the 
rioil  infigniilcant  in  capacity  ;  our  reafon  cannot  fail  to  aHi  us— • 
What  are  thofe  men  kept  for  ? 

li  there  h  any  thing  in  monarcliy  which  we  people  of  America  do 
rot  underftand,  I  wi(h  Mr.  Burke  would  be  fo  kind  as  to  inform  us. 
I  fee  in  America,  a  govern mient  extending  over  a  countiy  ten  times 
^s  nrge  as  England,  and  conducfled  with  regularity  for  a  fcriirth 
part  of  the  expence  v.hich  government  cofls  in  England.  If  I  (Ic 
a  man  in  America,  if  he  wants  a  kino"  ?  he  retorts,  and  aj]<s  me  :f  1 
take  him  for  an  idcot  ?  How  is  it  that  this  diucrence  happens  ?  are 
we  more  or  lefs  wife  than  others  :  I  fee  in  Amicrica,  >the  generality 
of  people  livino-  in  a  ftyle  of  plenty  unknov/n  in  monarchical  coun- 
tries ;  and  I  fee  that  the  principle  of  its  gcvernm.ent,  which  is  that 
of  the  erjua/  rights  of  man ^  is  making  a  rapid  progrefs  in  the  world. 

If  monarcliy  is  a  ufelefs  thing,  w!iy  is  it  kept  up  any  where  ?  arid 
if  a  neceffary  thing,  how  can  it  be  difpenfed  with  ?  Tliat  c'l-jiU  gC' - 
vernment  h  neceflary,  all  civilized  nations  v/ill  agree  in  ;  but  civil  go- 
vernment is  republican  government.  Ail  that  part  of  the  govern- 
ment of  England  which  begins  with  the  office  of  conftable,  and  pro- 
ceeds through  the  department  of  magillrate,  quarter- ft flicn,  and  ge- 
neral afiize,  includiiig  trial  by  jury,  is  republican  government.  No- 
thing of  m.onarehy  appears  in  any  part  of  it,  except  the  name  which 
William  the  conqueror  impofed  upon  the  Engliili,  that  of  obliging 
them  to  call  him  "  Their  fovtreini  lord  thehin<T." 

It  is  eafy  to  conceive,  that  a  band  of  interefted  men,  fuch  as  place- 
men, po:fioners,  lords  of  the  bed-cham/oer,  lords  of  the  kitchen, 
lords  of  llie  ncceiTary-houTe,  and  the  Lord  knows  what  befides,  can 
find  as  many  reafons  for  m.onarchy  as  their  falaries,  paid  at  the  cx- 
pcnce  of  tl.e  coui;try,  amount  to  ;  but  if  I  afk  the  farmer,  the  ma- 
nufafturer,  the  merchant,  the  tradefman,  and  down  through  all  the 
occupations  of  hFe  to  the  common  labourer,  what  fervice  m'Onarchy  is 
to  lum  ?  he  can  give  me  no  anfwer.  If  I  aflv  him  what  monarchy  is, 
he  believes  it  is  fomething  like  a  finecure. 

Notwithflanding  the  taxes  of  England  am.ount  to  almofl  feventeen 
million:,  a  year,   faid  to  be  for  the  expences  of  ^overament,  it  is  fl-ill 


RIGHTS     OF    MAN.  113 

evident  tliat  the  fenfj  of  the  nation  Is  left  to  govern  itfclf,  and  docs 
.govern  itfelf  by  magiftrates  and  juries,  almoft  at  Its  own  charge,  on 
Tepubh'can  principle;!,  exclufive  of  the  expeace  of  taxes.  The  falaries 
of  the  judges  are  ahnoft  the  only  charge  that  Is  paid  out  of  the  r£ve- 
nue.  Confiderlng  that  all  the  Internal  government  Is  executed  by 
the  people,  the  taxes  of  England  ought  to  be  lighten:  of  any  nation 
in  Europe;  Inilead  of  vvliich,  they  are  the  contrary.  As  this  can- 
not be  accounted  for  on  the  f::ore  of  civil  government,  the  fubjecl  ne- 
.cetTarily  extends  itfclf  to  tiic  monarchical  part. 

When  the  people  of  England  fent  for  Gecrge  the  ErPc  (and  it 
would  puzzle  a  wifer  man  than  Mr.  Bnrlrc  todifcover  f^r  vvhst  he 
•could  he  wanted,  or  what  fcrvice  he  could  render),  they  ought  at 
lead  to  have  conditioned  for  the  abandonment  of  Hanover.  Befides 
the  cndlefs  German  intrin-r.es  that  mufl:  follow  from  a  German  eledlor 
being  king  of  England,  there  Is  a  natural  Impoflibility  of  uniting  in 
the  fame  perfoa  the  principles  of  freedom  and  the  principles  of  def- 
potlfm,  or  as  it  is  called  in  England,  arbitrary  power.  A  Cermari 
cle£lor  is  In  his  eleftorate  a  defpot  :  How  then  could  it  be  expefted 
that  he  (hould  be  attached  to  principles  of  liberty  In  one  countr}^, 
while  his  Interell  in  another  was  to  be  fupported  by  defpotifm  ?  The 
union  cannot  exift  :  and  it  might  eafdy  have  been  forcfeen,  that  Ger- 
man eleci^ors  vv'onid  make  German  kinrs,  or,  in  IMr.  Burke's  words,  ^ 
would  aiTume  jrovernment  Avith  "  contempt."  The  Encr|ilh  have 
been  in  the  habit  of  corifidering  a  king  of  England  only  in  the 
character  in  which  he  appears  to  them  :  Whereas  the  fame  perfon, 
^•hile  the  connexion  lads,  has  a  home-feat  in  another  country,  the 
intereft  of  which  Is  diiTerent  to  their  own,  and  the  principles  of  the 
government  in  oppcfition  to  each  other — To  fuch  a  perfon  England 
wiil  appear  as  a  town-refidence,  and  the  eledlorate  as  the  ellate.  The 
EnglKh  may  wKh,  as  I  believe  they  do,  fuccefs  to  the  principles  of 
liberty  in  France,  or  in  Germai'.y  ;  but  a  German  elector  trembles 
for  the  fate  of  defpotifm  in  his  eleftorate  ;  and  the  duchy  of  Meck- 
lenhurgh,  where  the  prefent  queen's  family  governs,  is  under  the 
fame  wretched  ilate  of  arbitrary  power,  and  the  people  in  flavifli  vaf- 
falacrc. 

There  never  was  a  time  when  it  became  the  Englifli  to  watch 
continental  intrigues  more  circumfpediy  than  at  the  prefent  mo- 
ment, and  to  diftinguifa  the  politics  of  the  electorate  from  the  poli- 
tics of  the  nation.  The  revolution  of  Fra::ce  has  entirely  changed 
the  ground  with  refpeft  to  England  and  France,  as  nations  :  but  the 
German  dcfpots,   with  PruiTia  at  their  head,  are  combining"  againfl 

Vol.  II.  Q_ 


jt4.  P  A  I  NE 's    W  O  R  K  S. 

liberty  ;  snd  the  fondnefs  of  Mr.  Pitt  for  ofiice,  snd  the  intercft 
v.hich  rJi  his  fan.i])'  connexions  have  obtained,  do  not  give  fuilicient 
fecurity  againft  this  intrigiie. 

As  every  thing  which  pafTcs  in  tlie  world  becomes  matter  for  hif- 
tcry,'I  will  now  quit  this  fubjeft,  and  take  a  concifc  review  of  the 
irate  of  parties  and  politics  in  England,  as  Mr.  Burke  has  dene  in 
Frp.nce. 

"Whether  the  prefsnt  reign  commenced  with  contempt,  I  leave  to  Mr. 
Burke  :  Certain  however  It  is,  that  it  had  ilrongly  that  appearance. 
The  ariirrofity  of  the  Englifa  nation,  it  is  very  well  remembered, 
van  high  ;  and,  had  the  true  principles  of  liberty  been  as  well  under- 
i'loo  d  tlicn  as  they  now  promife  to  be,  it  is  probable  the  nation  would 
not  have  patiently  fubmitted  to  lo  much.  George  the  firft  and  fe- 
cond  vv'ere  fenfible  of  a  rival  in  the  remains  of  the  Stuarts  ;  and  as 
they  could  not  but  confider  thcir.i:ilves  as  ftanding  on  their  good  be- 
haviour, they  had  prudence  to  keep  their  German  principles  of  go- 
va-nment  to  themfclves  ;  but  as  the  Stuart  family  wore  away,  the  pru- 
dence became  lefs  neceflary. 

The  contcll  betv»'een  rights,  and  what  were  called  prerogatives, 
contiraueu  to  heat  the  nation  till  feme  time  after  the  conclufion  of  the 
American  war,  when  all  at  once  it  fell  a  calm  ;  execration  exchanged 
iifelf  for  applaufe,  and  court  popularity  fprung  up  like  a  mufhrocm  in 
•lie  night. 

To  account  for  this  fudden  tranfition,  it  is  proper  to  obferve,  that 
there  are  Iv.o  uifLin6l  fpecics  of  populaiity ;  the  one  excited  by  merit, 
the  other  by  refentment.  As  the  nation  had  formed  itfelf  into  two 
praties,  and  each  was  extolling  the  merits  of  its  parliamentary  cham- 
pioiis  for  and  agaiufl  the  prerogative,  nothing  could  operate  to  give 
a  more  general  fiiock  than  an  immediate  coalition  of  the  champions 
themfclves.  The  partifans  of  each  being  thus  fuddenly  left  in  the 
lurcij,  and  mutually  heated  v*ith  dJlguH  at  the  meafure,  felt  no  other 
relief  than  uniting  in  a  com.mon  execration  againft  both.  A  higlier 
ftimxulus  of  refentment  being  tlius  excited,  than  what  the  contell  on 
prerogatives  had  occafioned,  the  nation  quitted  all  former  obje£ls  of 
n.rlit3  and  wronps,  and  fouvjlit  o'.ilv  that  of  rracification.  Tiic  in- 
dignation  at  the  coalition,  fo  eiFt(5lua!ly  fuperfeded  the  indignation 
againll  the  court,  as  to  extinguifh  it  ;  and  without  any  change  of 
princ'ples  on  the  part  of  the  court,  the  fame  people  wl.o  had  repro- 
bated its  defpotlfm,  united  with  it,  to  revenge  themfelvcs  on  the  coali- 
tion parliam,ent.  The  cafe  v.-as  not,  which  they  liked  bell — but, 
which  they  hated   m.ufl ;   and  the  leaft  hated  palTed  for  leve.     The;,- 


RIGHTS     OF    MAN.  115 

di'ITolution  of  the  coalition  parliament,  as  it  afforded  tlie  menns  of 
gratifying  the  refentmciit  of  the  nation,  could  not  fail  to  be  popular; 
and  from  hence  arcfe  the  popularity  of  the  court. 

Tranfitions  of  this  kind  exhibit  a  nation  under  the  government  of 
temper,  inflead  of  a  fixed  and  ilendy  principle  :  And  having  once 
.committed  itfclf,  however  rafhly,  it  feels  itfelf  urged  along  to  iuftify 
by  continuance  its  firfl  proceeding.  Meafures  which  at  other  times 
it  would  cenfure,  it  now  approves,  and  s^tts  pcrfuafion  upon  Itfelf 
to  fuffocate  its  judgment. 

On  the  return  of  a  new  parliament,  the  new  miniiler,  Mr.  Pitt, 
found  himfeif  in  a  fecure  majority :  And  the  nation  gave  him  credit, 
not  out  of  regard  to  himfch*^,  but  becaufe  it  had  rcfolved  to  do  it 
out  of  refcntment  to  another.  He  introduced  himfeif  to  public 
notice  by  a  propofed  reform  of  parliament,  which  in  its  operation 
would  have  amounted  to  a  public  jufliilcation  of  corruption. 
The  nation  was  to  be  at  the  expence  of  buying  up  the  rotten 
boroughs,  whereas  it  ought  to  puniHi  the  perfons  who  deal  in  the 
tralHc. 

Palling  over  the  two  bubbles,  of  the  Dutch  bufinefs,  and  the  mil- 
lion a-year  to  fmk  the  national  debt,  the  matter  which  moil  prefenta 
kfelf,  is  the  affair  of  tlic  regency.  Never  in  the  courfe  of  my  ob- 
fervatlon,  was  delufion ,  more  fuccefsfuUy  adled,  nor  a  nation  more 
completely  deceived.  But,  to  make  this  appear,  it  will  be  necefiary 
to  go  over  the  circumilances. 

Mr.  Fox  had  ftated  in  the  houfe  of  commons,  that  the  prince  of 
Wales,  as  heir  in  fucceffion,  had  a  right  in  himfeif  to  affume  the  go- 
vernment. This  w^as  oppofed  by  Mr.  Pitt;  and,  fo  far  as  the  oppo- 
fition  was  confined  to  the  doClrine,  it  was  juft.  But  the  principles 
which  Mr.  Pitt  maintained  on  the  contrary  fide,  were  as  bad,  or 
worfe  in  their  extent,  than  thofe  of  Mr.  Fox;  becaufe  they  went  to 
cftablifh  an  ariftocracy  over  the  nation,  and  over  the  fmall  reprefen- 
tation  it  has  in  the  houfe  of  commons. 

Whether  the  Englilh  form  of  government  be  good  or  bad,  is  not 
in  this  cafe  the  queflion ;  bnt,  taking  it  as  it  ftands,  without  regard  to 
its  merits  or  demerits,  Mr.  Pitt  was  farther  from  the  point  than  Mr, 
Fox. 

It  is  fuppofed  to  confift  of  three  parts;  while,  therefore,  the  nation 
js  difpofed  to  continue  this  form,  the  parts  have  a  national  Jlamftngy 
Independent  of  each  other,  and  are  not  the  creatures  of  each  other. 
Had  Mr.  Fox  paffed  through  parliament,  and  fald,  that  the  perfon 
alluded  to  clainjcd  on  the  ^Tound  of  the  nation,  Mr.  Pitt  muft  thea 


3l6 

j'.ave  contended  (what  lie  called')  the  right  of  the  parliament,  agaic^ 
the  nVht  of  the  nation. 

By  the  appcjiraace  \'^'-hich  the  contcil  mnde,  IS'Ir.  Fox  took  the 
hereditary  ground ;  and  Mr.  Pitt  the  parhamentary  groir.id,  but  the 
fart  is,  they  both  took  hereditary  groiii.d,  and  Ivlr.  Pitt  took  the 
worft  of  the  two. 

What  h  called  the  parliament,  h  made  up  of  two  hoiifes  ;  one  of 
v/hich  is  more  hereditary,  :?.nd  more  bevond  the  control  of  the  nation, 
than  what  the  crown  (as  it  is  called)  is  fnppofed  to  be.  It  is  an  he- 
reditary aniiocracr,  aiTumino-  and  afTertinf  indefeahble,  irrevocable 
rights  and  authority,  wholly  independent  of  the  nation.  Wheve 
then  was  the  merited  popularity  of  exaltiav  this  hereditary  power 
over  another  hereditary  power  lefs  independent  of  the  nation  than 
what  itfelf  auumed  to  be,  and  of  abforbing  the  rights  cf  the  natfon 
into  a  hoirfe  over  which  it  has  neither  elcftion  nor  control  ? 

The  general  impulfe  of  the  nation  was  right;  but  it  acled  without 
rcfie<?i[loa.  It  approved  the  oppofition  made  to  the  right  fet  up 
by  Mr.  Fox,  wiiliout  perceiving  that  Mr.  Pitt  vs'as  fupporting 
another  indelcafible  rjght  mere  remote  from  the  nation,  in  oppofition. 
to  it. 

With  refpecl:  to  the  houfe  of  commons,  it  is  tlefted  but  by  * 
fmall  part  a^i  the  nation ;  but  were  the  election  as  univerfal  as  taxation, 
yvhich  it  ought  to  be,  it  would  iVill  be  only  the  organ  of  the  nation, 
and  cannot  poTcfs  inherent  rights.  ^Vtien  the  national  aifembly  of 
France  rcrolves  a  matter,  the  refolve  is  m.ade  in  right  of  the  nation; 
but  Mr.  Pitt,  on  all  national  queftion?,  (o  far  as  they  refer  to  the  houfe 
of  commons,  abforbs  the  rights  of  the  nation  into  the  organ,  and 
makes  tlie  organ  into  a  nation,  and  the  nation  itfelf  into  a  cypher. 

In  a  few  words,  the  queflicn  on  the  regency  was  a  quellion  on  a 
million  a-ycar,  whicli  is  appropriated  to  the  executire  departm.ent  : 
And  Mr.  ]h"tt  could  not  poffefs  himfelf  of  any  management  of  this  fura, 
without  fetting  up  the  fiipremacy  of  parliament ;  and  when  this  was 
accomplifned,  it  v/as  indifferent  who  fhould  be  regent  as  he  muflbe  re- 
rent  at  his  own  coil.  iVmon?-  the  curiofities  which  this  contentious  de- 
bate  afforded,  was  that  of  making  the  great  feal  into  a  king  ;  the  affix- 
ing of  which  to  an  act,  was  to  be  royal  authority.  If,  therefore,  royal 
authority  iii  a  great  feal,  it  confequently  is  in  itfelf  nothing  ;  and  a 
good  conilitution  would  be  of  infinitely  more  value  to'  the  nation^ 
than  vv^hat  the  three  nominal  powers,  as  they  now  iland  are  worth. 

The  continual  life  of  the  word  ccnJl'itutirM  in  the  Englifii  parlia- 
ment, fhews  there  is  none  j  and  that  the  whole  is  merely  a  form  of 


RIGHTS     OF    MAN.  H7 

government  without  a  coiillitution,  and  conftituting  itfclf  vvuh  what 
powers  it  pkafes.  IF  there  wtre  a  cer.ftitation,  it  certainly  would 
be  referred  to  ;  and  the  debate  on  any  coniliiiuional  poiiit,  would 
terminate  by  producing  the  conilitution.  One  member  fays,  This  i& 
confcitution  ?  another  fays,  That  is  conRiiution — To-day  it  is  one 
thing  ;  and  to-morrow,  it  is  fomelhing  elfe — while  the  maincainiiig 
the  debate  proves  there  is  none.  Coniiitution  is  now  the  cant  v/ord 
of  parliament,  turning  itfclf  to  the  ear  of  the  nation.  Formerly  it 
was  the  tinivsrfal  fubremacy  of  parliament — the  omnipotence  of  parliament. 
But,  fmce  the  progrefs  of  liberty  in  France,  thofe  phrafes  have  a 
<iefpotic  harfhnefs  in  their  note  ;  and  the  Englilli  parliament  have 
catched  the  lafhion  from  the  national  aiTembly,  but  without  the  fub- 
flance,  of  fpeaking  of  ccnfiUiifion. 

As  the  prefcnt  generation  of  people  in  England  did  not  make  the 
government,  they  are  not  accountable  for  any  cf  itsdefedls;  but  that 
fooncr  or  later  it  mull  come  into  their  hands  to  underg^o  a  conftitu- 
tional  reform.ation,  is  as  certain  as  that  the  fame  thing  has  happened 
in  France.  If  France,  wiih  a  revenue  cf  nearly  twenty-four  milhons 
flerling,  with  an  extent  of  rich  and  fertile  country  above  four  times 
larger  than  England,  with  a  population  cf  twcPity-four  millions  of 
inhabitants  to  fupport  trixation,  with  upwards  of  ninety  millions  ller- 
ling  of  gold  and  lilver  circulating  in  the  nation,  and  with  a  debt  lefs 
than  the  prefcnt  debt  of  England — ilill  found  it  necefTai-y,  froiiV'whalE- 
cver  caufe,  to  come  to  a  fettlement  of  its  affairs,  it  folves  the  problem 
of  funding  for  both  countries. 

It  is  out  of  the  queilion  to  fay  how  long,  what  is  called  the  Eng- 
lish conditution  has  laded,  and  to  argue  from  thence  how  long  it  is 
to  lail ;  the  queilion  is,  how  long  can  the  funding  fydem  lall  ?  It  is  a 
thing  but  of  modern  invention,  and  has  not  yet  continued  beyond  the 
life  of  a  man  ;  yet  in  that  fnort  fpace  it  has  fo  far  accumulated,  that, 
together  with  the  current  expences,  it  requires  an  amount  of  taxes  at 
lead  equal  to  the  whole  landed  rental  of  the  nation  in  acres,  to  defrar 
the  annual  expenditures.  That  a  government  could  not  alvv'ays  have  > 
gone  on  by  the  fame  fyflem  which  has  been  followed  for  the  lait  fe- 
venty  years,  mull  be  evident  to  every  man  ;  and  for  the  fame  reafoH 
it  cannot  always  go  on. 

The  funding  fyllem  is  not  money  ;  neither  is  it,  properly  fpeak- 
ing, credit.  It  in  effecl,  creates  upon  pnper  the  fum  which  it  ap- 
pears to  borrovv',  and  lays  on  a  tax  to  keep  the  imaginary  capital  alive 
by  the  paym.ent  of  intered,  and  fends  the  annuity  to  market,  t6  be 
fold  for  papsr  already  in  circubtion.     If  any  credit  is  ^-iven,  it  is  t*  ' 


nS  P  A  I  N  E  ^  s    WORKS. 

the  difpontion  of  the  people  to  pay  the  tax,  and  not  to  the  govern- 
ment  which  lavs  it  on.  When  this  dirpofilion  expires,  what  is  iup- 
■pofed  to  be  the  credit  of  government  e!-:pires  with  it.  The  inftance 
of  France  under  the  former  governn-.ent  fhews  that  it  is  impcffible  to 
compel  the  payment  of  taxes  by  force,  when  a  whole  nation  is  deter- 
mined to  take  its  iland  npon  that  ground. 

Mr.  Burke,  in  hisreviev%rof  the  finances  of  France,  flates  the  quan- 
tity of  gold  and  iilver  in  France,  at  about  eighty-eight  milhons  Ptcr- 
ling.  In  doing  this  he  has,  T  prefume,  divided  by  the  differerce  of 
-excliange,  initcad  of  the  ftandard  of  tv^-enty-four  hVres  to  a  pound 
flerling  ;  for  M.  Neckar's  ftatcmcnt,  from  w^hich  Mr.  Burke's  is 
taken,  is  iivo  ihcnfand Invo  hundred  millions  of  livres^  which  is  upwards 
of  ninety  one  miUions  and  an  half  ftcrjing. 

M.  Neckar  in  France,  and  Mr.  George  Chalmers  of  the  ofHce  of 
trade  and  plantation  in  England,  of  which  lord  Hawkefbury  is  prefi- 
dent,  publifhed  nearly  about  the  fame  timiC  (1786)  an  account  of  the 
quantity  of  money  in  each  naticn,  from  the  returns  of  the  mint  of 
each  nation.  Mr.  Chalmiers  from,  the  returns  of  the  Englifhi  mrint  at 
the  Tower  of  London,  flates  the  quantity  of  money  in  England,  in- 
cluding Scotland  and  Ireland,  to  be  twenty  millions  fterling.* 

M.  Neckarj-  iayr.,  tliat  t'iie  amiOUiit  of  money  in  France,  recoined 
from  the  old  coin  which  was  called  in,  was  two  thoufand  five  hundred 
minions  of  livres  (upwards  of  one  hundred  and  four  niillions  flerling), 
and,  after  deducing  for  waue,  and  ^\hat  may  be  in  the  Wtft-Indies, 
and  other  poUible  circumftances,  ilates  the  circulating  quantity  at 
home,  to  be  ninety-one  millions  and  an  half  fterling  ;  but,  taking  it 
as  Mr.  Burke  has  put  it,  it  is  fixty- eight  millions  more  than  the  na- 
tional quantity  in  England. 

That  the  quaatily  or  money  in  France  cannot  be  under  this  fum, 
may  ai  once  be  feen  from  the  date  of  the  French  revenue,  without 
referring  to  the  records  of  the  French  mint  for  proofs.  The  reve- 
nue of  France  prior  to  the  revolution,  was  nearly  twenty-four  millions 
fterling  ;  and  cis  paper  had  then  no  exiflence  in  France,  the  v/holc 
revenue  was  coiledcd  upon  gold  and  filvcr  ;  and  it  would  have  been 
impoflible  to  have  colkfted  fuch  a  quantity  of  revenue  upon  a  lefs 
national  quantity  than  M.  Neckar  has  ftated,      Before  the  eftabliib- 

*  See  Efilmate  of  the  Comparative  Strength  of  Great  BntaWf  ly  G, 
Chalmers. 

•\  See  Admhiijlraikn  cf  the  Flr^nces  of  France f  Vol.  III.  by  M., 
Neclar. 


RIGHTS     OF    MAN.  iig 

m^nt  of  paper  in  England,  the  revenue  was  about  a  foarth  p:irt  of 
the  nation?.!  amount  of  gold  and  filvcr,  as  may  be  known  by  referring 
to  the  revenue  prior  to  king  William,  and  the  quantity  of  money  dated 
to  be  in  the  nation  at  that  time,  which  was  ncariy  as  much  as  it  is  now. 

It  can  be  of  no  real  fervice  to  a  nation,  to  impofe  upon  itfelf,  or  to 
permit  itfcif  to  be  impofed  upon  ;  but  the  prejudices  of  fome,  and  the 
impofition  of  others,  have  always  reprefentcd  France  as  a  nation  pof- 
fefling  but  little  money — whereas  the  quantity  is  not  only  more  than 
four  times  what  the  quantity  is  in  England,  but  is  cor.fidcrably  greater 
on  a  proportion  of  numbers.  To  account  for  this  deficiency  on  the 
part  of  England,  fome  reference  fliould  be  h^d  to  the  Engiiih  fylicm 
of  funding.  It  operates  to  multiply  paper,  and  to  fubllitute  it  in  the 
room  of  mioney,  in  various  Ihispes  ;  and  the  more  paper  is  multiplied, 
the  more  opportunities  are  afforded  to  export  the  fpecie  ;  and  it  ad- 
mits of  a  poiTibility  (by  extending  it  to  imail  notes)  of  increafmg  pa- 
per,  till  there  is  no  money  left. 

I  know  this  is  not  a  pleafant  fubjc£l  to  Englifh  readers  ;  but  the 
matters  I  am  going  to  mention,  are  fo  important  in  themfelves,  as  to 
require  the  attention  of  men  intereiled  In  money-tranfa£iions  of  a  pub- 
lic nature  There  is  a  circumilance  dated  by  M.  Neckar,  in  his 
treatil'e  on  the  adminiHration  of  the  finances,  vvliich  has  never  been 
attended  to  in  England,  but  v/hich  forms  the  only  bafis  vv'hereon  to 
cflimate  the  quantity  of  money  (gold  and  filver)  which  ought  to  be 
in  every  nation  in  Europe,  to  preferve  a  relative  proportion  with  other 
nations. 

Lifbon  and  Cadiz  are  the  two  ports  into  whicli  (money)  gold  and 
filver  from  South  America  are  imported,  and  which  afterwards  di- 
vides and  fpreads  itfelf  over  Europe  by  means  of  commerce,  and 
increafes  the  quantity  of  money  in  all  parts  of  Europe.  If,  there- 
fore, the  amount  of  the  annual  importation  into  Europe  can  be 
knovvn,  and  the  relative  proportion  ot  the  foreign  com.merce  of  the 
fevcral  nations  by  which  it  is  dilha'buted  can  be  afcertained,  they  give 
a  rule,  fufTiciently  true,  to  afcertain  the  quantity  oF  money  which 
ought  to  be  found  in  any  nation  at  any  given  time. 

M.  Neckar  (hews  from  the  regifters  of  Lilbon  and  Cadiz,  that  the 
importation  of  fold  and  filver  into  Europe,  is  five  millions  licrling 
annually.  He  has  not  taken  it  on  a  fingle  year,  but  on  an  averag-* 
of  fifteen  fucceeding  years,  from  1763  to  1777,  both  inclulive  ;  iu 
which  time,  the  amount  was  one  thoufaud  eight  hundred  miihon  livres, 
which  is  feventy-five  millions  iltrling.^ 

*  ^idm'injjircj'ion  of  ihi  Finan:::  of  Francct  VcL  HI. 


rzB  R  I  G  H  T  S     O  F    M  A  N. 

From  the  Cvommcucemont  of  the  Pliinover  fuccefiion  in  17 14,  to 
the  time  Mr.  Chahners  publifhed,  is  feventy  two  years  ;  and  the  quan- 
tity imported  into  Europe,  in  that  time,  would  be  three  hundred 
arid  fixty  millions  flcrhng. 

If  the  foreign  commerce  of  Great  Britain  be  ftated  at  a  fixth  part 
«f  Vv'hat  the  \vhole  foreign  commerce  of  Europe  amounts  to  (which  is 
probably  an  inferior  eftimation  to  what  the  gentlemen  at  the  exchange 
Y/ould  allow)  tlie  proportion  which  Britain  Hiould  draw  by  commerce 
ef  this  fum,  to  keep  herfelf  on  a  proportion  vvi::h  the  red  of  Europe,  _ 
would  be  alfo  a  fixth  part,  which  is  fixty  millions  ilerling  ;  and  if 
the  fam^e  allowance  for  vvalle  and  accident  be  m.ade  for  England, 
which  M-  Neckar  makes  for  France,  the  quantity  rem.aiaing  after 
thefe  dedn£iions,  would  be  fifty  two  millions,  and  this  fum  ought  to 
have  been  in  the  nation  (at  the  time  "v'r.  Chalmers  publ'riied)  in  ad- 
dition to  the  fum  whiich  was  in  the  nation  at  the  comm.encement  of 
the  Hanover  fuccefiion,  and  to  have  made  in  the  whole  at  Icaft  fixty- 
fix  millions  ilerling  ;  ir.flead  of  which  there  v.'ere  but  twenty  milhons, 
which  is  forty- fix  millions  below  its  propoitionate  quantity. 

As  the  quantity  of  gc?d  and  filver,  imported  into  Lifocn  and  Ca- 
diz is  more  eafily  ti.fcertained  than  that  of  an^r  ccm.m.odity  im.ported 
into  Enpland  ;  and  as  the  quantity  of  m.oney  coined  at  the  Tower 
of  London,  is  (till  more  pohtively  known,  the  leading  fads  do  not 
admit  of  controverfy.  Either,  therefore,  the  ccmimcrce  of  England 
is  iii.'produftive  of  profit,  or  the  gold  and  hlver  which  it  brings  in 
leak  continually  away  by  unfeen  m.cans,  at  ihe  average  rate  of  about 
three  quarters  of  a  million  a-year,  v/hich,  in  the  courfe  of  feventy-two 
years,  accounts  for  the  deficiency  ;  and  its  abfence  is  fupplied  by 
paper.* 

*  JVhtths?'  ihc  Er'^-'u^j  commerce  dees  not  urin"^  in  mzncr,  cr  i-ihctber 
'thf  ^Dvcrnmeni  finds  it  out  after  it  is  Irought  in^  is  a  matter  ivhich  the 
i^arUes  concerned  can  hfl  explain ;  hut  that  ihe  deficiency  exijis,  is  not  in 
ihe  po'zuer  of  either  to  difprove.  IVhik  Dr.  Price,  Air,  Eden  (nono 
Jiucl.land)  Mr.  Chahncrs,  and  others,  ivere  debating  ojhether  the  quan- 
tity of  monev  iras  greater  or  lefs  than  at  the  revolution,  the  clrcurnjlance 
xvas  not  adverted  to,  that  Jince  the  rcvoIuiiGn,  there  cannot  have  lecn  lefs 
fh an  four  hundred  miUionsJlerUng  imported  into  Europe ;  and  therefore,  the 
r'lctitity  in  England  ought  at  leajl  to  have  hccn  four  times  greater  than  it 
Kvas  at  the  revohuicn,  to  he  on  a  proportion  ivith  Europe.  P/hat  Englana 
IT  noiv  doing  hy  paper,  is  "what  JJ:e  JJ.^ouId  have  been  ohle  to  do  by  foVid 
tpotiey,  if  gold  and  fiver  had  come  into  the  nation  in  iheproporitcn  it  ought. 


HIGKTS    or    MAN.  |2l 

*}'lie  revolution  of  France  is  attended  with  many  novel  circum- 
ftances,  not  only  in  the  political  fphere,  but  in  tlu;  circle  of  money 
tranfactions.  Among  others,  it  fnows  that  a  g-ovcrnment  may  be 
in  a  (late  of  infolvcncy  and  a  nation  rich.  So  far  as  the  facft  is  con- 
fined to  the  late  government  of  France,  it  was  infolvent;  bc^aufc  the 

cr  had  not  been  Tent  out ;  andjl:e  Is  endcavcuriiig  to  rcjlore  by  papery  ths 
balance  fie  has  left  hy  money.  It  is  cerlahi,  that  th:'  gold  andjdvcr  ivh'ich 
arrive  annually  in  the  i-egi/lerjljlps  to  Spain  and  Porliigaly  do  not  remain 
in  thofe  countries.  Tahing  the  value  half  in  ■gold  and  half  in  fiver,  it  is 
about  four  hundred  tons  annually  ;  and  from  the  number  offips  and  gal- 
icons  employed  in  the  trade  of  bringing  thofe  metals  from  South  America  la 
Portugal  and  Spainy  the  quantity  fiijiclently  proves  if  elf  ^Lhout  referring 
io  the  rcglfcrs 

In  the  fituation  England  noiu  is,  it  is  impffplle  fie  can  increafe  in  mO' 
ney*     High  taxes  not  only  lefftn  the  property  of  the  individuals  but  they  lef 
fen  aljo  the  money  capital  of  the  nation,  by  inducing  fmuggling,  ivhich  can 
cnly  be  carried  on  by  gold  and  fiver.      By  the  politics  nvhich  the  Britfh 
government  have  carried  on  nvith  the  inland  powers  of  Germany  and  tlys 
continent,   it  has  jnade  an  enemy  of  all  the  maritime  poivers,  and  is  there- 
fore obliged  to  hep  up  a  large  jiavy  ;  but  though  the  navy  is  built  In  En'^- 
land,  the  naval  fores  muf  be  purchafed from  abroad,  and  that  from  coun- 
tries where  the  greatef  part  r.uifl  be  paid  for  in  gold  andfilver.    Some  fal- 
lacious rumours  have  been  fet  afoat  in  England  to  induce  a  belief  of  monevy 
and,  among  others,  that  of  the  French  refugees  bringing  great  quantities. 
The  idea  is  ridiculous.      The  general  part  of  the  money  in  France  is  fiver ; 
end  It  would  tale  upwards  of  twenty  of  the  largef  broad  wheel  waggons  y 
with  ten  horfes  each,  to  remove  one  million ferllng  of  fiver.      Is  it  then  to 
be  fuppofed,  that  a  few  people  fleeing  on  horfe-lajk  or  In  pof-chalfes,  in  a 
fcret  manner,  and  having  the  French  cufiom-houf  to  pafs,  and  the  fa  to 
crofs,  could  bring  even  afifjlciency  for  their  own  expences  ? 

JVhen  millions  of  money  arefpohen  of,  itfooidd  be  recollected,  that  fuch 
funis  can  only  accumulate  in  a  country  byfow  degrees,  and  a  long  procef- 
fion  of  time.     The  mof  frugal fyfiem  that  England  could  now  adopt,  would 
not  recover  in  a  century  ths  balance fae  has  hfl  in  money  f  nee  the  commence- 
ment of  the  Hanover  fuccejjtcn.     She  Is  feventy  millions  behind  France,  and 
fje  mifl  be  infome  confdcrable  proportion  behind  every  coumry  in  Europe., 
becaife  the  returns  of  the  Englfh  mint  do  not  foew  an  increafe  of  money y 
wh'de  the  regi/lers  of  Lfbon  and  Cadl-zfew  an  European  increafe  of  be-^ 
tzvsen  three  and  four  hundred  millions  ferllng^ 
Vol.  IL  K. 


122  PATNE»s    WORKS. 

nation  woald  no  longer  fupport  its  extravagance,  and  tlierefore  it 
CLuId  no^lo  iger  fiippjrt  itfclf — but  with  refpc^r  to  the  nation  all  the 
means  exifted.  A  goverameiit  tnay  be  faid  to  be  infolvent  every 
time  it  applies  to  a  n?lioii  to  difcharge  irs  arrears.  The  inlolvency 
of  the  late  government  of  France,  and  the  prefent  government  of 
Eno^land,  differed  in  no  other  refpeft  than  as  the  difpofition  of  the 
people  differ.  The  people  of  France  refufed  their  aid  to  the  old 
government,  and  the  people  of  England  fubmit  to  taxation  without 
eiiqniry.  What  is  called  the  crov.-n  in  England  has  been  infolvent 
feveral  times;  the  lail  of  which,  publicly  known,  was  in  May  J777> 
vvhe  1  it  applied  to  the  nation  to  difcharge  upwards  of  6go,ooo1. 
priv-!te  debts,  which  otheiAvif^  it  could  not  pay. 

It  was  tlie  error  of  Mw  Pitt,  Mr.  Burke,  and  all  thofe  who  were 
unrcqMainted  with  the  affairs  of  France,  to  confound  the  French 
nation  with  the  French  government.  Tiie  French  nation  in  efteft, 
endeavoured  to  render  the  late  government  infolvent,  for  the  purpofc 
of  taking  c;^overnm.ent  into  its  own  hands  ;  and  it  referved  its  means 
for  the  fupport  of  the  new  government.  In  a  country  of  fr-ch  vail 
extent  and  population  as  France,  the  natural  m.eans  cannot  be  want- 
ing; and  the  political  tnenns  appear  the  inftant  the  nation  is  difpofed 
to  permit  th-m..  Whe:;  Mr.  Burke,  in  a  fpeech  laft  winter  in  the 
BntiHi  parliament,  cq/I  bis  ijes  over  the  map  of  Europe,  andfaav  a  chojm 
that  once  ivas  France.,  he  talked  like  a  dreamer  of  dreams.  The  fame 
natural  France  exilled  as  before,  and  all  the  natural  means  exillcd 
with  it,  Tiie  only  cliafin  was  that  which  the  extinAion  of  defpot- 
if.n,  hid  left,  and  which  vvms  to  be  filled  up  with  a  confiitution 
more  formidable  in  refourecs  than  the  pov^er  which  had  expired. 

Although  tlie  French  nation  rendered  the  late  government  infol- 
vent, it  did  not  perm.it  the  infolvency  to  ael  towards  the  creditors  ; 
and  the  creditors  confiderin  j  the  nation  as  tlie  real  pay  mailer,  and 
the  government  only  as  the  agent,  reilcd  themfelves  on  the  nation, 
in  preference  to  the  government.  This  apptars  greatly  to  difturb 
Mr.  Burl<e,  as  the  precedent  is  fiital  to  the  policy  by  which  govern- 
ihents  have  fuppofed  tiiemfclves  fecure.  They  h  we  contracted  debts, 
with  a  view  of  attaching  what  Is  called  the  monied  intered  of  a  na- 
tion to  their  fupport  ;  but  the  example  in  France  fhews,  that  the 
permanent  Lcnrlty  of  the  creditor  is  in  the  nation,  and  not  m  the 
government  ;  and  that  in  rli  polTible  revolutions  tiiat  may  happen  m 
governments,  the  means  are  always  with  the  nation,  ai-.d  the  nation 
always  in  cxiilcuce.      Mr.  Buike  argues,  that  the  creditors  ought  to 


RIGHTS     OF    MAN.  123 

have  abideu  the  fate  of  tlie  government  wliich  tl>.-y  tru(l«^d  ;  but 
the  n?it!0!ial  airouibly  confidcrcd  them  as  the  creditors  of  the  nation, 
and  not  o^' tlie  government — of  the  mafttr,    and  not  of  t)ie  fteWard. 

Notwithftaiiding  the  late  government  could  not  difcharge  tlie 
Current  expences,  the  prefent  government  has  paid  off  a  great  part  of 
the  capital.  This  has  been  accomplifhed  by  two  means  ;  the  one 
by  IcfTening  the  expences  of  government,  and  the  other  by  the  {Ac 
of  the  monadic  and  ecclcfiaflicil  landed  eftates.  The  devotees  and 
penitent  debauchees,  extortioners  asid  m.ifers  of  former  days,  to  en- 
fure  themfclves  a  better  world  than  that  which  they  were  about  to 
leave,  had  bequeathed  immenfe  property  in  truil  to  the  pritllhood, 
for  pious  vfcs  ;  and  the  pricllhocd  ki-pt  it  for  themfclves.  The  na- 
tion^nl  affen.bly  has  ordered  it  to  be  f(ild  for  the  good  of  the  whole 
nation,  and  the  priefthood  to  be  decently  pro\idcd  for. 

In  confecuence  of  the  revolution,  tlie  annual  intertft  (jf  the  debt  of 
l^rance  will  be  reduced  at  leail  fix  millions  iterling,  by  paying  off 
upwards  of  one  hundred  mjllioas  of  the  capital  ;  wliich,  with  lef- 
fening  the  former  expences  of  government  at  Itall  three  millions, 
will  place  France  in  a  fituation  worthy  the  imitation  of  EurG]<e. 

Upon  a  whole  review  of  the  fubje^Sl,  how  vail:  is  the  contraft  ! 
While  Mr.  Burke  has  been  talking  of  a. general  bankruptcy  in  France, 
the  national  affenibly  have  been  paying  ofF  the  capital  of  its  debt  ; 
and  while  taxes  have  increafed  near  a  million  a-year  iu  Engbnd, 
they  have  lowered  feveral  millions  a-year  in  Frap.ce.  Not  a  w  rd 
has  cither  Mr,  Euike  or  Mr.  Pitt  faid  about  French  affairs,  or  the 
ftate  of  the  French  finances,  in  the  prefent  fcfiion  of  parliament. 
The  fnbjed  begins  to  be  too  well  underllocd,  and  impofition  ferves 
no  longer. 

There  is  a  general  enigma  running  through  the  whole  of  Mr. 
Burke's  book.  Ke  writes  in  a  rage  againft  the  national  alfembly ; 
but  what  is  he  enracred  about?  If  his  aficrtions  were  as  true  a?  they 
are  grour.dlefs,  and  that  France  by  her  revolution  had  annihi- 
lated her  power,  and  become  what  he  calls  a  chafm^  it  might  excite 
the  grief  of  a  Frenchman  (confidering  himfelf  as  a  national  man) 
and  provoke  his  rage  againft  the  national  affembly ;  but  why  fbiould 
it  excite  the  rage  of  Mr.  Burke  ? — Ala.s  !  it  is  not  the  nation  of  _ 
France  that  Mr.  Burke  means,  but  the  COURT;  and  every  court 
in  Europe,  dreading  the  fame  fate,  is  in  m.ourning.  Fie  writes  nei- 
ther in  the  charader  of  a  Frenchman  nor  an  Englifnman,  but  in 
the  fawning  character  of  that  creature  known  m  all  countries,  and  a 


224  PAINT'S    Vv^  O  R  K  S. 

friend  to  none,  a  tDurtler.  Whetlier  it  be  'C\t  court  of  VeiTallles,  osr 
the  court  of  St.  James  or  of  Carlton-houfe,  or  the  court  in  expec- 
tation., fignifies  not  ;  for  the  caterpillar  principles  of"  all  courts  and 
courtiers  are  alike.  They  form  a  common  policy  throughout  Eu- 
rope, detached  and  fepa'-nte  from  the  interefh  of  the  nations,  and 
while  they  appear  to  quarrel,  thev  agree  to  plunder.  Nothing  can 
be  more  terrible  to  a  court  or  a  courtier,  than  the  revolution  of 
France.  That  which  is  a  blefTing  to  nations,  is  bitternefs  to  them  % 
and  as  their  exigence  depends  on  t!ie  duplicity  of  a  country,  they 
tremble  at  the  approach  of  principles,  and  dread  the  precedent  that 
threatens  their  overthrowi 


C  O  N  C  L  U  S  I  O  N. 

Rcafom  and  ignorance,  the  oppof  tes  of  each  other,  influence  the- 
great  Uilk  of  mankind.  If  k:\i\vcx  of  thcfe  can  be  rendered  fuftf- 
ciently  exteniive  in  a  country,  tlie  machinerj^  of  government  goes 
eafily  on.  Reafon  obeys  itfdf,  and  ignorance  fubmits  to  whatever  is 
di6lated  to  it. 

The  two  modes  of  government  which  prevail  in  the  world,  are  ;fr/f, 
government  by  eleclion  ai^d  rtprefentation  :  Secondly^  government 
by  hereditary  facceflion.  The  fjrm.er  is  generally  known  by  the 
name  of  republic  ;   the  latter  by  that  of  m.onarchy  and  ariftocracy. 

Thofe  two  diftincl  and  oppofite  furms,  erefl  themfelves  on  the 
two  dillinfl  and  oppofite  bafis  of  reafon  and  ignorance.  As  the  ex- 
ercife  of  government  requires  talents  and  abihties,  and  as  talents 
and  abilities  cannot  have  hereditary  defcent,  it  is  evident  that  here- 
ditary fucceiTion  requires  a  belief  from  man,  to  which  his  reafon  can- 
not fubfcribe,  and  which  can  only  be  eflabliflied  upon  his  ignorance ; 
?.nd  the  more  ignorant  any  country  is,  the  better  ft  is  fitted  for  this 
fpecies  of  government. 

On  the  contrary,  government  in  a  well  coriflituted  re})ublic  re- 
quires no  belief  from  man  beyond  what  his  reafon  can  give.  He 
fees  the  rationale  of  the  wliole  fyilem,  its  origin  and  its  operation  ; 
and  as  it  is  beft  fupported  when  bell  underflood,  the  human  faculties 
fid  with  boldnefs,  and  acquire,  under  this  form  of  government,  a  gi- 
gantic manlinefs. 

As,  therefore,  each  of  thofe  forms  af^.s  on  a  different  bafe,  the  one 


'      '  RIGHTS    OF    MAN.  J2j 

moving  freely  by  the  aid  of  reafon,  the  other  by  ignorance ;  we 
have  next  to  confider,  what  it  is  that  gives  motion  to  that  fpecies  of  go- 
rernment  which  is  called  mixed  government,  or,  as  it  is  fometime? 
ludicroufly  ftyled,  a  government  of  tins,  ihai^  and  t'other. 

The  moving  power  in  this  fpecies  of  government,  is  of  neceffity 
corruption.  Hov/ever  imperfeft  eleftion  and  rcprefentation  may  be 
in  mixed  governments,  they  ftill  give  exercife  to  a  greater  portion 
of  reafon  than  is  convenient  to  the  hereditary  part;  and  therefore  ft 
becomes  neceffary  to  buy  the  reafon  up.  A  mixed  government  is 
an  imperfect  every -thing,  cementing  and  foldering  the  difcordant 
parts  together  by  corruption,  to  a6l  as  a  whole.  Mr.  Burke  appears 
highly  difgufted,  that  France,  fmce  flie  had  refolved  on  a  revolution, 
did  not  adopt  what  he  calls  "  A  Bnt]Jlo  conjl'itut'wn ;'''*  and  the  regretful 
manner  in  which  he  exprefTed  liimfelf  on  this  occafion,  implies  a  fuf- 
picion,  that  the  Britlfli  conllitution  needed  fomething  to  keep  its 
defeils  in  countenance. 

In  mixed  governments  there  is  no  refponfibility  ;  the  parts  cover 
each  other  till  refponfibility  is  loft ;  and  the  corruption  which  moves 
the  machine,  contrives  at  the  fame  time  its  own  efcape.  When  it  is 
laid  down  as  a  maxim,  that  a  king  can  do  no  'wrongs  it  places  him  in 
a  ftate  of  fimilar  fecurity  with  that  of  ideots  and  perfons  infane,  and 
refponfibility  is  out  of  the  queftion  with  rtfpeft  to  himfelf.  It  then 
defcends  upon  the  m.inifter,  who  fiielters  himfelf  ur.der  a  majority  m 
parliam.ent,  which,  by  places,  penfions  and  corruption,  he  can  always 
command  ;  and  that  majority  juftilies  Itf^^lf  by  the  fame  authority 
with  which  it  protefts  the  minifler.  In  this  rotatory  motion,  re  pon- 
fibility  is  thrown  off  from  the  parts,  and  from  the  whole. 

"When  there  is  a  part  in  a  government  which  can  do  no  wron-^,  it 
implies  that  it  does  nothing  ;  and  is  only  the  machine  of  another 
power,  by  whofe  advice  and  direftion  it  afls.  What  is  ffippofed  to 
be  the  king  in  mixed  governments,  is  the  cabinet ;  and  as  the  cabinet 
is  always  a  part  of  the  parliament,  and  the  numbers  juflifying  \\\ 
one  character  what  they  advife  and  aft  in  another,  a  mixed  govern- 
ment becomes  a  continual  enigma;  entailing  upon  a  country,  by  the 
quantity  of  corruption  neceffary  to  folder  the  parts,  the  expence  of 
fupporting  all  the  forms  of  government  at  once,  and  finally  refolvin-r 
itfelf  into  a  government  by  committee  ;  in  which  the  advifers,  the 
a6lors,  the  approvers,  the  juftifiers,  the  perfons  refponfible,  and  the 
perfons  not  refponfible,  are  the  fame  perfons. 

By  this  pantomimical  contrivance,  aiid  change  of  fcene  and  cha- 


/ 


125'  PAINE's    WORKS. 

ra6ler,  the  parts  help  each  oilier  out  in  matters,  which,  neither  of 
them  fingly  would  aiTuine  to  aft.  When  money  is  to  be  obtai.ii^d, 
the  mafs  of  variety  apparently  difiblves,  and  n  profufion  of  pania- 
mentary  praifes  pafi^^s  between  the  parts.  Each  adm'res  with  afto- 
iiifhment  the  wifdom,  the  h'berality,  the  dirintercftediiefs  of  the 
other  ;  and  all  of  them  breathe  a  pitying  fi gh  at  the  burdens  of  the' 
nation. 

But  in  a  well-conRituted  republic,  nothing  of  this  fcldering, 
praifmg,  and  pitying-,  can  take  place;  the  repreCentation  beirig  t-qiial 
throughout  the  country,  and  compkte  in  itfclf,  however  it  may  be 
arranged  into  legiflative  and  executive,  they  have  all  one  antl  ihe 
fame  natural  fource.  The  parts  are  not  foreigners  to  each  other, 
like  democracy,  ariftocracy,  and  monarchy.  As  there  are  no  dif- 
cordant  didinctions,  there  is  nothing  to  corrupt  by  compromife,  nor 
confound  by  contrivance.  Pablic  meafures  appeal  of  themielves  to 
the  underltandinp"  of  the  nation,  and,  redivu--  on  their  own  mci  ts, 
difown  any  flattering  applicatii.n  to  vanity.  The  continual  whine 
of  lamenting  the  burden  of  taxes,  however  fuccefsfnlly  it  m.ay  be 
pra^tiied  in  mixed  governments,  is  inconfiftent  wi  h  the  fenfe  and 
fpirit  of  a  republic,  if  taxes  are  neccffary,  they  are  of  ccurfs  ad- 
vantageous ;  but  if  they  require  an  apology,  the  apology  itlelf  im- 
plies an  impeachment.  VvHiy  then  is  man  thus  impofed  upon,  or 
why  does  he  impofe  upon  himfelf  ? 

When  men  are  fpoken  of  as  kings  and  fubjefts,  or  when  govern- 
ment is  mentioned  under  dillinft  or  combined  heads  of  monarchy, 
ariftocracy,  and  democracy,  what  is  it  that  reafumng  man  is  to  un- 
derftand  by  the  terms  ?  Tf  tliere  really  exifted  in  the  world  two  or 
more  diilinil  and  feparate  dements  of  human  power,  we  fhould  then 
fee  the  feveral  origins  to  which  thofe  terms  would  defcriptively  apply: 
But  as  there  is  but  one  fpecies  of  man,  there  can  be  but  one  clement 
of  human  power  :  And  that  element  is  man  himfclf.  Monarchy, 
ariftocracy,  and  democracy  are  but  creatures  of  imagination  ;  and 
a  thoufand  fuch  may  be  contrived  as  well  as  three. 


From  the  revolutions  of  Am.erica  and  France,  and  the  fymptoms 
that  have  appeared  in  other  countries,  it  is  evIdcMit  that  the  opmior.  of 
the  world  is  changing  with  refped  tofyllems  of  government,  and  -hat 
revolutions  are  nut  within  the  compafs  of  political  calculations.     The 


RIGHTS    OF    MAN.  127 

proc^refs  of  time  and  circumflances,  whicli  men  affign  to  the  accom- 
phniineiit  of  great  changes,  is  tt)o  mechiinic^I  to  m'-arure  the  force  of 
tne  mindi  and  the  rapidity  of  reficition,  by  which  revolutions  are 
generated  :  All  the  old  governments  have  received  a  ihock  from 
thole  tha.  already  appear,  and  which  were  once  niore  improbable, 
and  are  a  greater  fubj^cl  of  vvondx^r,  than  a  general  revolution  in  Eu- 
rope would  be  now. 

When  we  fiirve^v'  the  wretch  ?d  condition  of  man  under  the  monar- 
ch'■r.d  and  hereditary  fyllems  of  governrrcnt,  d.;gy;cd  from  his  home 
bv  o  le  power,  or  driven  by  an.)ther,  and  impoveriihed  by  taxes  more 
til  '1  by  ene;'nies,  it  becomes  evident  that  thufe  fyfsems  are  bad,  and 
tliat  a  general  revolutio:i  in  the  principle  and  conRruclion  of  govern- 
ments is  necelTary. 

What  is  government  more  thin  the  manngem.ent  of  the  affairs  of  a 
jialioii  ?  It  is  not,  and  from  its  nature  cannot  be,  the  property  of  any 
particular  man  or  family,butof  the  whole  community,  at  whofe  cxpence 
it  is  fupported  ;  and  thuugh  by  force  or  contrivance  it  has  been  luuvped 
iuio  an  inhxriiance,  the  ufurpation  cannot  alter  the  right  of  things. 
Sovereignty,  as  a  m»riti:er  of  right,  appertains  to  the  nation  only,  and  not 
to  at\y  individual  ;  and  a  nation  has  at  all  times  an  inherent  indefeafiole 
right  to  abolifh  any  form  of  governm.ent  it  finds  inconvenient,  and  ef- 
tablifli  fuch  as  accords  with  its  intereft,  d'fpcfirion  and  happinefs.  The 
romantic  and  barbnrous  dillinclions  of  men  into  kings  and  fubje6l3, 
though  it  may  fnit  the  condition  of  courtiers  cannot  that  of  citizens  • 
and  is  exploded  by  the  principle  upon  which  governments  are  now 
founded.  Every  citizen  is  a  member  of  the  fovereignty,  and  as 
fuch,  can  acknowledge  no  perfonal  fubje6tion  ;  and  his  obedience  can 
be  only  to  the  laws. 

When  men  think  of  what  government  is,  they  muft  necelTarily  fup- 
pofe  it  to  poTefs  a  knowledge  of  all  the  objects  and  matters  upon 
which  its  authority  u  to  be  exercifed.  In  this  view  of  government, 
the  repubh'can  fyilem,  as  cflabliflicd  by  America  and  France,  operates 
to  embrace  the  whole  of  a  nation  ;  and  the  knoudedge  neceffary  to 
the  intereft  of  all  the  parts,  is  to  be  found  in  the  centre,  which  the 
pans  by  reprefentation  form  :  but  the  old  governments  are  on  a  con- 
flruOilion  that  excludes  knowledge  as  well  as  happint^fs  ;  government 
by  monks,  who  know  nothing  of  the  world  beyond  the  wails  of  a 
convent,  is  as  confiftent  as  government  by  kings. 

What  were  formerly  called  revolutions,  were  httle  ,more  than  a 
change  of  pcrfons,,  or  an  aitciaCion  oi  local  circumftances.      They  rofe 


liB  PAINE's    WORKS. 

and  fell  like  things  of  courfe,  and  had  nothing  in  their  exillence  or 
their  fate  that  could  influence  beyond  the  fpot  that  produced  them. 
But  what  we  now  fee  in  the  world,  from  the  revolutions  of  America 
and  France,  are  a  renovation  of  the  natural  order  of  things,  a 
fyllem  of  principles  as  univerfal  as  truth  and  the  exiftence  of 
man,  and  combining  moral  with  political  happinefs  and  national 
profperity. 

**  I.  li'Ten  are  horn  and  al\vays  continue  free  and  equal  in  refpeB  to 
t/.'eir  rhr/jls.  Civil  dijlincftons,  therefore^  can  he  founded  only  en  puhlic 
ittility. 

*'  II.  The  end  cf  all  political  ajfociaticns  is  the  prefervaticn  of  the  natu- 
Val  and  iraprcfcriptihle  rights  of  man,  and  thefe  rights  are  liberty ,  property ^ 
feciiriiy  and  refJJance  of  oppreffon. 

"  III.  "The  nation  is  ejfenticdly  the  fource  of  all  fovereignty  ;  nor  can 
any  indi'vidualy  or  any  body  of  men,  be  entitled  to  any  authority  ivhich  is 
not  exprefsly  derived  from  it,'* 

In  thefe  principles  is  there  nothing  to  throw  a  nation  into  ccnfufion, 
by  inflaming  amibition.  They  are  calculated  to  call  forth  wifdom 
and  abilities,  and  to  exercife  them  for  the  public  good,  and  not  for  the 
emolument  or  agsfrandifem.ent  of  particular  defcriptions  of  men  or  fa- 
milies. Monarchical  fovereignty,  the  enemy  of  mankind  and  the 
fource  of  mifery,  is  aboliflied  ;  and  fovereignty  itfelf  is  reftored  to  its 
natural  an^  original  place,  the  nation.  Were  this  the  cafe  through- 
out Europe,  the  caufe  of  wars  v/ould  be  taken  away. 

It  is  attributed  to  Henry  tbr  £;urth  of  France,  a  man  of  an  en- 
larged and  benevolent  heart,  that  he  propofed,  about  the  year  1620, 
a  plan  for  abolifhing  war  in  Europe.  The  plan  confifted  in  confti- 
tuting  a  European  congrefs,  or,  as  the  French  authors  ftile  it,  a  pa- 
cific republic  ;  by  appointing  delegates  from  the  feveral  nations,  who 
were  to  a<rt  as  a  court  of  arbitration,  in  any  difputes  that  might  arife 
between  nation  and  nation. 

Had  fuch  a  plan  been  adopted  at  the  time  it  was  propofed,  the 
taxes  of  England  and  France,  as  two  cf  the  parties,  Vv'ould  have 
been  at  lead  ten  millions  fteiling  annually  to  each  nation,  lefs  than 
they  were  at  the  commencement  of  the  French  revolution. 

To  conceive  a  caufe  why  fuch  a  plan  has  not  been  adopted  (and 
that  inftead  of  a  congrefs  for  the  purpofe  of  preventing  war,  it  has 
been  called  only  to  terminate  a  war,  after  a  fruitkfs  expence  of  feveral 
years)  it  will  be  necelTaiy  to  confider  the  interefl  of  governments  as  a 
diHiud  interefl  to  that  cf  nations. 


RIGHTS     OF    MAN.  129 

Whatever  is  the  caiife  of  taxes  to  a  nation,  becomes  alTo  the  means 
of  revenue  to  a  government.  Every  \var  terminates  with  ■  an  v.^di- 
tion  of  taxet^,  and  confequently  v.-ith  an  addition  of  revenue;  and  in 
any  event  of  war,  in  the  manner  they  are  now  co^nmenced  and  con- 
cluded, the  power  and  int-rrelt  of  govci  aments  art  increpfd,  War^ 
tlierefore,  from  its  prodLi6livenef3,  as  it  eafily  furniflus  the  prfi^en«« 
of  neceEity  for  taxes  and  appointuients  to  places  and  offices,  becomes 
the  principal  part  of  the  fyiiem  of  old  governments;  and  to  cHabliili 
any  mode  to  abohHi  v»'ar,  hou'cver  advantageous  it  might  be  to  na* 
tions,  would  be  to  take  fromi  fuch  government  the  moil  lucrative  cf 
its  branches.  The  fiivolous  matters  upon  which  war  ir=  made,  fhew 
the  difpofition  and  avidity  of  governments  to  upliold  tlie  lyikm  of 
war,  and  betray  the  motives  upon  which  they  a<5l. 

Why  are  not  republics  plunp-c-d  into  vvar,  but  becanfe  the  nature  of 
their  government  does  not  •c;dn-«t  of  an  iuLcreft  diRind  to  that  of 
the  nation?  Even  Holland,  though  an  ill-conferucted  republic,  anjd 
with  a  commerce  extending  over  the  world,  exiiled  nearly  a  century 
without  vv-ar:  And  the  inilant  the.  form  of  government  wa5changi.d 
in  France,  the  republican  principles  of  peace,  and  domeftic  profpe- 
rity  and  economy,  arofe  with  the  new  governmer.t  ;  and  the  fame 
confequences  would  follow  the  fame  caufes  in  other  iiau'ons. 

As  war  is  the  fyflem  of  government  on  the  old  conllru£lion,  the 
animofity  which  nations  reciprocally  entertain,  is  nothing  rliore  than 
what  the  policy  of  their  governments  excite,  to  keep  up  the  fpir:t  of 
the  fyllem.  Each  government  accufes  the  other  of  perfidy,  intrigue 
and  ambition,  as  a  means  of  heating  the  imagination  of  their  refpec- 
tive  nations,  and  incenfmg  them  to  hoftilities.  iMan  is  not  tlie  enemy 
of  man,  but  through  the  medium  of  a  falfe  fyftem  of  government. 
Inilead  therefore  of  exclaiming  againil  the  ambition  of  kings,  the 
exclamation  fliould  be  dirc<?ted  againil  the  principle  of  fuch  gcvevn- 
m.ents  ;  and  inilead  of  feeking  to  reform  the  individual,  the  Vvifdom 
of  a  nation  fhould  apply  itfclf  to  reform  tlie  fylicm. 

Whether  the  forms  and  maxims  of  governments  which  are  ftiil  in 
praftice,  were  adapted  to  the  condition  of  the  world  at  the  period 
they  were  eflablidicd,  is  not  in  this  cafe  the  q'tellion.  The  older 
they  are  the  lefs  corrcfpondence  can  they  have  v/ith  the  prefent  Hate 
of  things.  Time,  and  change  of  circumRances  and  opinions  have 
the  fame  progreffive  cfTeft  in  rendering  m.odes  of  government  obfo- 
lete,  as  they  have  upon  cuiloms  and  manners.  Agriculture,  com- 
merce, manufadurcs  and  the  tranquil  arts,  by  which  the  nrofpcrity  of 

Vol.  II.  S 


f5o  PAINE' 8    WORKS, 

nations  is  befl  promoted,  require  a  diiTerent  fyilem  of  govrrnmcpt, 
and  a  ditFerent  fpecies  of  knowledge  to  dire(fl  its  <  peratioi-fc,  to  what 
might  have  been  the  former  condition  of  the  world. 

As  it  is  not  difficult  to  perceive,  from  the  enlightened  ft?.t"  of 
mankind,  that  hereditary  governments  are  verging  to  their  rit  Mine, 
and  that  revolutions  on  the  broad  bafis  of  national  fovereignty,  ai;d 
government  by  reprefentation,  are  miking  their  way  In  Europe,  it 
vrould  be  an  a<?t  of  wifdom  to  anticipate  their  appiosch,  and  pro- 
duce revolutions  by  reafon  and  accomniodatian,  rather  than  commit 
them  to  the  ilTue  of  convulfions. 

from  what  we  now  fee,  nothing  of  reform  in  the  political  world 
ought  to  be  held  improbable.  It  is  an  age  of  revoli'tions,  m  which 
every  thing  may  be  looked  for.  The  intrigue  of  courts,  by  which  the 
fyftem  of  war  is  kept  up,  may  provoke  a  confederation  of  natitins  to 
abolifli  it :  And  a  European  congrefs  to  patronize  the  progrefs  of 
free  government,  and  promote  the  civilization  of  nations  with  each 
other  is  an  event  nearer  in  probability,  than  once  were  tlie  r^'volu- 
tiens  and  alliance  of  Fr«inc2  and  America. 


RIGHTS     OF     MAN. 


PART     THE     SECOND. 


COMBINING 


PRINCIPLE  AND  PRACTICE. 


Ey    THOMAS    PAINE, 


iSCHSTARr   FOR   FOREtQX  AFFAIRS    TO    TSS   AUEKISIK   SONGiSSSi^ 
IN    Ta£   LATR    VTAK, 


AUTHOR    OF    A    BOOK    ENTITLiD 


♦•COMMON    SENSE*^ 


AND  OF  TUfc  FIRST  PART  09 


"RIGHTS    OF    MA  N.'* 


Mtv''i«^''^''<^-*iw!^vi^w^^'*m.^m-i«e(>itm\3SST» 


TO 


M.    DE   LA  F  AT  Err. 


FTER  an  acquaintance  of  nearly  fifteen  years,  in  difficult  litua- 
tions  in  America,  and  various  confulta-tions  in  Europe,  1  feel  a  plea- 
fure  in  prefenting  you  this  fmall  treatife,  in  gratitude  for  your  lervices 
to  my  beloved  America,  and  as  a  teftimony  of  my  elleem  for  the 
▼irtues,  public  and  private,  w^hicii  1  know  you  to  poiTcfs. 

The  only  point  upon  which  I  could  ever  difcover  that  we  differed, 
was  not  as  to  principles  of  s^overnment,  but  as  to  time.  For  my 
own  part,  I  think  it  equally  as  injurious  to  good  principles  to  permit 
them  to  linger,  as  to  pufii  them  on  too  fail.  That  which  you  fappofe 
accomplifnable  in  fourteen  or  fifteen  years,  I  may  believe  practicable 
in  a  much  fhorter  period.  Mankind,  as  it  appears  to  me,  are  always 
ripe  enough  to  underftand  their  true  intereft,  provided  it  be  prefented 
clearly  to  tlieir  underftanding,  and  that  in  a  manner  not  to  create 
fufpicion  by  any  thing-  like  felfdefign,  nor  ofFend  by  affuming  too 
much.      Where  we  would  wifh  to  reform  we  mull  not  reproach. 

When  the  American  revolution  was  eilablifhed,  I  felt  a  difpofition 
to  fit  ferenely  down  and  enjoy  the  calm.  It  did  not  appear  to  me 
*hat  any  objedl  could  afterwards  arife  great  enough  to  make  me  quit 
tranquility,  and  feel  as  I  had  felt  before.  Cut  when  principle  and 
not  place,  is  the  energetic  caufe  of  a6t.ion,  a  man,  i  find,  is  every 
where  the  fame. 

I  am  now"  once  more  in  the  public  world  ;  and  as  I  have  not  a 
right  to  contemplate  on  fo  many  years  of  remaining  life  as  you  have, 
I  am  refolved  to  labour  as  fall  as  I  can  ;  and  as  I  am  anxious  for 
your  aid  and  your  company,  1  wilh  you  to  haflen  your  principles 
and  overtake  me. 


142  r  A  I  N  E  *  s    W  O  R  K  S. 

If  you  mak*;  a  campaign  the  cnfuing  fpring,  which  it  is  moft  pre* 
bable  there  will  be  no  occafion  for,  1  will  come  and  join  you.  Should 
the  campaign  commence,  I  hope  it  will  terminate  in  the  extindion  of 
Germ.an  defpotifm,  and  m  cftablifhing  the  freedom  of  --ill  Germany. 
When  France  (hall  be  furrounded  with  revolutions,  (lie  will  be  in 
peace  and  fafety,  and  her  taxes,  as  well  as  thofc  ©f  Germany,  wiU 
coiifcquently  become  Itxlj. 

Yoor  finccre, 

AfFedionatc  friend, 

THOMAS  PAINE. 
London,  Feb.  9,  179  2. 


0 


PREFACE. 


w 


HEN  T  bf,^an  the  chapter  entitled  tlie  Covrhfwn  in  tlic  for- 
mer part  of  the  RIGHTS  OF  MAN,  pub^'lTied  lad  year,  it  uas 
my  intention  to  hnve  extended  it  to  a  greater  length  ;  hut  in  cpfting 
the  whole  matter  in  my  mind  which  I  wifned  to  add,  I  found  that  I 
mud  either  make  the  work  too  bulky,  or  contraft  my  plan  too  m.uch. 
I  therefore  brought  it  to  a  clofe  as  foon  as  the  fuhject  would  admit, 
and  referved  what  I  had  further  to  fay  to  another  opportnnl'y. 

Several  other  reafons  contributed  to  produce  this  determination. 
I  wifhed  to  know  the  manner  in  which  a  work,  written  in  a  ftyle  of 
thinking  and  expreflion  different  to  what  had  been  cuiiomiary  in  Enu^- 
land,  would  be  received  before  I  proceeded  farther.  A  grtat  fitld 
was  opening  to  the  view  of  mankind  by  nneans  of  the  French  revolu- 
tion. Mr.  Burke's  outrageous  oppofition  thereto  brouglit  the  con- 
troverfy  into  England.  He  attacked  principles  which  he  knew  (from 
information)  I  would  conteft  witli  him,  becaufe  they  are  principles 
1  believe  to  be  good  and  which  I  have  contributed  to  cftablirii,  and 
conceive  myfclf  bound  to  defend.  Had  he  not  urged  the  controverfy, 
I  had  mod  probably  been  a  fdent  man- 

Another  reafon  for  deferring  the  remainder  of  the  work  vas,  that 
Mr.  Burke  promlfed  in  his  firft  publication  to  renew  the  fubje(fl  at 
another  oportunity,  and  to  make  a  comparlfon  of  what  he  cnlled  the 
Endlfh  and  French  conftitutions.      I  therefore  held  myfclf  in  refervc 

o 

for  him.  He  has  publlfhed  two  works  flncc,  without  doing  this ; 
which  he  certainly  would  not  have  omitted,  had  the  comparlfon  been 
in  his  favour. 

In  his  lall  work,  his  "  Appeal  from  the  Ne^ju  to  the  Old  Wh'igi^''  he  has 
quoted  a!»out  ten  pagei  from  the  Righti  of  M^Hf  and  having  gwt^ 


144  P  A  I  NE's    W  O  R  K  S. 

himfejf  the  trouble  of  doing  this,  fays,  "  he  fliall  not  attempt  in  tlie 
ffnallcll  de^^ree  to  refute  them,"  meaning  the  principles  therein  con- 
tained. I  am  cnousfh  aGcim-inted  with  Mr.  Burke  to  know,  that  he 
would  l^  he  could.  But  inllead  of  contefting  them,  he  immediately 
after  confoles  hiinfelf  witli  faying  that  "  he  has  done  his  part." — He 
has  not  done  his  part.  He  has  not  performed  his  promife  of  a  compa- 
vifon  of  conditutions.  He  ibarted-  a  controverfy,  he  gave  the  chal- 
lenge, and  has  fled  from  it ;  and  he  is  now  a  cafe  in  point  with  his  own 
opiiiion,   that  "  ths  age  of  chli^alry  is  gone  .^" 

The  title,  as  v/ell  as  the  fubftance  of  his  laft  work,  his  "  jlppeal,''^ 
IS  his  condemnation.  Principles  mufl  ftand  on  their  own  nierits,  and 
if  they  are  good  they  certainly  will.  To  put  them  under  the  (lielter 
of  other  men's  authority,  as  Mr.  Burke  has  done,  ferves  to  bring 
them  into  fufpicion.  Mr.  Bnrke  is  not  very  fond  of  dividing  his 
honours,  but  in  this  cafe  he  is  artfully  dividing  the  difgrace. 

But  who  are  th'.jfe  to  wliorn  Mr.  Burke  has  made  his  appeal  ?  A 
fct  of  childifn  thirikcrs  and  half-way  politicians  born  in  the  lafl  cen- 
tury ;  men  who  went  r,o  farther  wi'.h  any  principle  than  as  it  fuited 
their  purpofe  as  a  party  ;  the  nation,  was  always  left  out  of  the  quef- 
tion  ;  and  this  has  been  the  charailer  of  every  party  from  that  day  to 
tliis.  The  nation  fees  nothing  in  fuch  vroiks,  or  fuch  politics  wor- 
thy its  attention.  A  little  matter  will  rriove  a  party,  bat  it  mull  be 
fomething  great  that  movc:5  a  nation. 

Thon.rh  I  fee  nothing  in  Mr.  Burke's  Appeal  worth  taking  notice 
of,  there  is,  however,  one  exprelTion  upon' which  I  fhall  offer  a  few 
remarks, — After  quc>tin]^  largely  from  the  Rlghls  (f  Man,  aud  declin-^ 
ing  to  conteft  the  principles  contained  in  that  work,  he  fnys,  ''  This- 
will  m'.ll  probably  be  done  (fftch  ^ivrUhgs  fiall  he  ihovghi  to  dfrvQ 
nay  other  refuip.i'icn  than  ihct  of  criminal  jafice)  by  ethers,  v.'lio  may 
think  wiih  Mr.  Burke  ar,d  with  the  fanie  zeal." 

In  the  firft  place,  it  has  not  yet  been  done  by  any  body.  Not 
lefs,  I  believe  than  eighi  or  ten  pan"!pl)lets  intended  as  anfwers  to  the 
former  part  of  tlie  ''  Rfghts  of  Man"  have  been  pubkH-ied  by  dif- 
ferent perfons,  and  not  oric  of  them,  to  my  knowledge,  has  exterided 
to  a  fecond  ed'tion,  nor  are  even  the  titles  of  them  io  much  as  gCr 
r.erally  remembered.  As  I  am  averfe  to  unnecc-lTarily  multiplying 
publicatiouo,  I  Imve  anfwered  none  of  them.  And  as  I  believe  that 
a  man  may  vv-.ite  himfeif  out  of  n  pulation  v/hen  nobody  clfe  can  da 
it,   I  am  careful  to  avoid  that  rock. 

But  as  T  would"  decline  unneceflary' publications  on  the  one  hand, 
fo  would  I  avoid  every  thing  that  might  appear  lll-ie  fullcn  pride  on 


PREFACE,  HS 

the  other.  If  Mr.  Burke,  or  any  perfon  on  his  fide  the  qiiellion, 
will  produce  an  anfwer  to  the  «  Rights  of  Man,"  that  fhall  extend  to 
an  half,  or  even  to  a  fourth  part  of  the  number  of  copies  to  which 
the  Rights  of  Man  extended,  I  will  reply  to  his  work.  But  until 
this  be  done,  I  fhall  fo  far  take  the  fenfe  of  the  public  for  my  guide 
(and  the  world  knows  I  am  not  a  flatterer)  tliat  what  they  do  not 
think  worth  while  to  read,  is  not  worth  mine  to  anfwer,  I  fuppofe 
the  number  of  copies  to  which  th^  firft  part  of  the  Rigb.'s  of  Man  ex- 
tended, taking  England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland,  is  not  iefs  than  be- 
tween forty  and  fifty  thoufand. 

I  now  come  to  remark  on  the  remaining  part  of  the  quotation  I 
have  made  from  Mr.  Burke. 

*'  If,"  fays  he,  ^<  fuch  writings  fhall  be  thought  todefcrve  any  other 
refutation  than  that  o^  criminal  juPiicc." 

Pardoning  the  pun,  it  mufl  be  cnminai]vi^\ct  indeed  that  Ihould  con- 
demn a  work  as  a  fubiiitute  for  not  being  able  to  refute  it.  The 
greateft  condemnation  tliat  could  be  pafied  upon  it  would  be  a  refu-' 
tation.  But  in  proceeding  by  the  method  Mr.  Burke  alludes  to,  the 
condemnation  would,  in  the  final  event,  pafr.  upon  the  criminality 
oi  the  proccfs  and  not  upon  the  work,  and  in  this  cafe,  I  had  rather 
be  the  author,  than  be  either  the  judge,  or  the  jury,  that  fiiould 
condemn  it. 

But  to  come  at  once  to  the  point.  1  have  differed  from  fome  pro- 
feiTional  gentlemen  on  the  fubje(5l  of  profecutions,  and  I  fince  find  they 
are  falling  into  my  opinion,  which  I  fliall  here  flate  as  fully,  hut  as 
concifely  as  I  can. 

1  will  firfl  put  a  cafe  with  refpc£l  to  any  law,  and  then  coinpare  it 
with  a  government,  or  with  what  in  England  is,  or  has  be^n,  called  a 
conflitution. 

It  would  be  an  a6l  of  dcfpotifm,  or  what  in  England  is  called 
arbitrary  power,  to  make  a  law  to  prohibit  invelligating  the  prin- 
ciples, good  or  bad,   on  which  fuch  a  law,  or  any  other  is  founded. 

If  a  law  be  bad,  it  is  one  thing  to  oppofe  the  praiR:ice  of  it,  but 
it  is  quite  a  different  thing  to  cxpofe  its  errors,  to  reafon  on  its  de- 
fe(fls,  and  to  fliew  caufe  why  it  fhould  be  repealed,  or  why  another 
ought  to  be  fubflituted  in  its  place.  I  have  always  held  it  an  opinion 
(making  it  alfo  my  pradicc)  that  it  is  bettei-  to  obey  a  bad  law, 
making  ufe  at  the  fame  time  of  every  argument  to  fhew  its  errors 
and  procure  its  repeal,  than  forcibly  to  violate  it ;  bccaufe  the  prece- 
dent of  breaking:  a  bad  law  mic'^ht  weaken  the  force,  and  lead  to  a 
tlifcretionary  violation,  of  thofe  v/hich  arc  good. 

Vol.  II.  T 


J46  V  A  I  N  E  's    W  O  R  K  S. 

The  cafe  is  the  fame  with  refpecf^  to  principles  and  forms  of  ^pveTH-' 
tr-^nt,  or  to  v.hat  are  called  conftitutions,  and  the  parts  of  which  they 

au    :■  :mpoft:d. 

It  -"s  fcr  the  good  of  nations,  a'-'d  rot  for  the  crrolument  or  ag- 
g-iandizement  of  particular  individuals,  that  government  onght  to  be 
ef^  .hiiflied,  and  that  mankind  are  at  the  expence  of  fupporting  it. 
The  deffd^s  of  every  gcvcrrmeiit  raid  conftiHilion  both  as  to  principle 
and  form  mv^,  on  a  parity  of  rtaroning,  be  as  open  to  difcuflion  ass 
the  dt'fed^s  of  a  law,  ar,d  ''t  is  a  diJt\'  which  every  man  owes  to  fo- 
■ci'»ty  lo  point  theru  out.  "\"\  htn  thcfe  deftfts,  and  the  means  of  re- 
mtdying  tht-m,  are  generally  feen  by  a  nation,  that  nation  will  reform 
-its  irovernment  or  its  conftitution  in  the  one  cafe,  as  the  government 
repealed  or  reformed  the  law  in  the  other.  The  operation  of  go- 
vernment is  reftridcd  to  the  m.aking  and  the  admiiiiftering  of  laws  ;- 
but  it  is  to  a  nation  that  the  right  of  forming  or  reforming  generat- 
in'T  or  re<renerating  conftitutions  and  governments  belong;  and  con- 
fcquentlv  thofe  fubjccts,  as  fubjeds  of  inveftigation,  arc  always  before 
8  country  as  a  matter  of  rhht^  arid  cannot,  without  invading  the 
.general  rights  of  that  countrv,  be  made  fubjefts  for  profecution. 
On  this  ground  I  will  m.eet  Mr.  Burke  whenever  he  pleafes.  It  is 
better  that  the  v.hole  argun-.ent  fliould  come  out,  than  to  feck  to 
lliile  it.  It  was  himfclf  that  opened  the  controvt^y,  and  he  ought 
Eot  to  dcfert  it. 

I  do  not  believe  that  monarchy  and  ariHocracy  will  continue  feven 
years  longer  in  any  of  the  enlightened  countries  in  Europe.  If 
better  reafons  can  be  fnewn  for  them  than  againft  them,  they  will 
ftand ;  if  th?  contrary,  they  will  not.  Mankind  are  not  now  to  be 
told  ihey  fhall  noc  think,  or  they  fliall  not  read:  And  publications 
that  go  no  tarther  than  to  inveftigate  principles  of  government,  to  in- 
vite men  to  resfon  and  to  reflef^*,  and  to  fliew  the  errors  and  excel- 
lencies of  difFcrent  fykems,  have  a  right  to  appear.  If  they  do  not 
excite  attention,  they  are  not  worth  the  trouble  of  a  profecution  5 
and  if  they  do,  the  profecution  will  amount  to  nothing,  fmce  it  can- 
not amount  to  a  prohibition  of  reading.  This  would  be  a  fentencc 
on  the  public,  initead  of  the  author,  and  would  alfo  be  the  mofl  cf- 
fetlual  mode  of  making  or  hallening  revolutions. 

On  all  cafes  that  apply  univerfally  to  a  nalion,  with  rcfpedl  to 
fyftems  of  government,  ajuiy  of  t-ivelve  vatwh,  not  com.petent  to 
•decide.  V/here  there  are  no  witnefies  to  be  examined,  no  fads  to 
be  proved,  and  where  the  whole  matter  is  before  the  vi'hole  public, 
^udthe  mctita  cr  demerits  ®f  it  relling  on  their  opinion;   and  where 


PREFACE.  147 

tliere  is  nothing  to  be  known  in  a  court,  but  wbat  every  body  knows 
out  of  it,  every  twelve  men  is  equally  as  good  a  jury  as  the  other, 
and  would  moll  probably  reverfe  each  other's  verdid  ;  or  ficm  the 
Tariety  of  their  opinions,  not  be  able  to  form  one.  It  is  one  cafe, 
whether  a  nation  approve  a  work,  or  a  plan;  but  it  is  quite  another 
cafe  whither  it  will  com*nit  to  any  fuch  jury  the  power  of  determm- 
iag  whether  that  nation  have  a  right  to,  or  Ihail  reform  its  govern- 
ment, or  not.  I  mention  thofe  cafes  that  Mr.  Burke  may  fee  I  have 
Dot  v/ritten  on  g-overnment  without  refleftin^f  on  what  is  law,  as  well 
.as  on  what  are  rights. — The  only  eifc6i:iial  jury  in  fuch  cales  would' 
fee  a  convention  of  the  whole  nation  fairly  eletled  ;  for  in  ail  fuch 
cafes  the  whole  nation  is  the  vicinage.  If  Mr.  Burke  will  propofc 
fuch  a  jury,  1  will  wave  all  privil  g  -,  of  being  the  citizen  of  another 
country,  and,  defending  its  principles,  abide  the  ilfue,  provided  he 
will  do  the  fame;  for  my  opinion  is,  that  his  work  and  his  principles 
would  be  condemned  inllead  of  mine. 

As  to  the  prejudices  which  men  have  from  education  and  habit, 
in  favour  of  any  particular  form  or  fyftem  of  government,  thcfe  pre= 
judices  have  yet  to  Hand  the  teft  of  reafon  and  rtfledlion.  In  facl, 
fuch  prejudices  are  nothing.  No  man  is  prejudiced  in  favour  of  a 
thing  knowing  it  to  be  wrong.  He  is  attached  to  it  on  the  belief  of 
itf.  being  right  ;  and  when  he  fees  h  is  not  fo,  the  prejudice  will  be 
gone.  We  have  but  a  defeAive  idea  of  v.'hat  prejudice  is.  It  might 
be  faid,  .hat  until  men  think  for  themfelves  the  whole  is  prejudice  and 
not  opinion;  for  that  only  is  opinion  which  is  tlie  refidt  of  reafon  and 
refledion.  I  offer  this  remark,  that  Mr.  Burke  may  not  confide  too 
jnuch  in  what  has  been  the  cuftomary  prejudices  of  the  country. 

I  do  not  believe  that  the  people  of  England  have  ever  been  fairly 
and  candidly  dealt  by.  They  have  been  impufed  upon  by  parties, 
and  by  men  affuming  the  chara6ler  of  leaders.  It  is  time  that  the 
nation  (hould  rife  above  thofe  trifles.  It  is  time  to  difmifs  that  inat- 
tention which  has  fo  long  been  the  encouraging  caufe  of  flretching 
taxation  to  excefs.  It  is  time  to  difmifs  all  thofe  fongs  and  toalls 
which  are  calculated  to  enflave,  and  operate  to  fuffocate  refleftion. 
On  all  fuch  fubje^ls  men  have  but  to  think,  and  they  will  neither  a6l 
■Wrong  nor  be  mifled.  To  fay  that  any  people  are  not  fit  for  freedom, 
is  to  make  poverty  their  choice,  and  to  fay  they  had  rather  be  loaded 
with  taxes  than  not.  If  fuch  a  cafe  could  be  proved,  it  would  equally 
prove  that  thofe  who  govern  are  not  fit  to  govern  them,  for  they  arc 
a  part  of  the  fane  national  mafs. 

B»t  admitting  goverttmeijti  to  be  changed  all  ovef  -Europe,  it 


14^  P  A  I  N  E  '  s    W  O  R  K  S. 

certainly  may  be  done  without  convulfion  or  revenge.  It  is  not 
worth  making  changes  or  revolutions,  unlefs  it  be  for  fome  great  na- 
tional benefit,  and  when  this  fhall  appear  to  a  nation,  the  danger 
■will  be,  as  in  America  and  France,  to  thofe  who  oppofe ;  and  with 
this  reneciion  I  clofe  my  preface. 

THOMAS  PAINE. 

Loiidofiy  Fc'h.  9.   1792". 


fcimiii  I  I  II.        I  I    ■!      ■   I  I  I      .1- .    -  I  I         ■■  .!■  I  ■  ..II  I  ■» 

RIGHTS    OF    MAN. 

PART    II. 


INTRODUCTION. 

*  *    HAT  Archimedes  faid  of  the  mechanical  powers,  may  be  ap- 
plied to  Reafon  and  Liberty:   "  Nad  lue,^'  faid  he,,"  a  place,,  to 

it   /J     J    ^  •  L^      -r   ^i  Tjyy     "   "j.^  T  ov  «*"?■  <?u_ 

*'  Jiand  upoiif  ive  might  ratje  the  ivorld. 

The  revolution  of  America  prefented  in  politics  what  was  only 
theory  in  mechanics.  So  deeply  rooted  were  all  the  governments  of 
the  old  world,  and  fo  effectually  had  the  tyranny  ami  the  antiquity  of 
habit  eflablifhed  itfelf  over  the  mind,  that  no  beginning  could  be 
made  in  Afia,  Africa,  or  Europe,  to  reform  the  political  condition  ol 
man.  Freedom  hath  been  hunted  round  the  globe  ;  reafon  was  con- 
fidered  as  rebellion  ;  and  the  llavery  of  fear  had  made  men  afraid  to 
think. 

But  fuch  Is  the  irrefiftible  nature  of  truth,  that  all  it  aflcs,  and  all 
it  wants,  is  the  liberty  of  appearing.  The  fun  needs  no  infcriptioii 
to  diftinguifh  him  from  darknefs,  and  no  fooner  did  the  American  go- 
vernments difplay  thcmfelves  to  the  world,  than  defpotifm  felt  a 
Jhock,  and  man  began  to  contemplate  redrefs. 

The  independence  of  America,  confidered  merely  as  a  feparation 
from  England,  would  have  been  a  m.atter  but  of  little  importance, 
had  it  not  been  accompanied  by  a  revolution  in  the  principles  and 
praftice  of  government.  She  made  a  Hand,  not  for  hcrfelf  only,  but 
fbr  the  world,  and  looked  beyond  the  advantages  herfelf  could  receive. 
Even  the  HelTian,  though  hi'  cd  to  ficrht  againPt  her,  may  live  to  blefs 
his  defeat  ;  and  England,  condemning  the  vicioufnefs  of  its  govern- 
ment,   rejoice  in  Its  mlfcarriage. 

As  America  was  the  only  fpot  In  the  political  world,  where  the 
principles  of  univerfal  refonnation  could  begin,  fo  alfo  was  It  the  beft 
in  the  natural  world.  An  a^cmblage  of  circumftances  confpircd,  not 
only  to  give  birth,  but  to  add  gigantic  maturity  to  its  principles. 
The  fcene  which  that  country  prefects  to  the  eye  of  the  fpedator. 


f55>  P  A  I  N  E  's    VV  O  R  K  S. 

has  fometliing  in  it  which  generates  and  enlarges  great  ideas*  Nature 
appears  to  him  in  magnitude.  T!ie  mighty  obje6:s  be  beholds,  adl 
upon  his  mind  by  enlarging  it,  and  he  partakes  of  the  greatnefs  he 
contemplates. — Its  firft  fettlers  were  emigrants  from  different  Euro- 
pean nations,  an  1  of  diverfified  p-.ofeffions  of  religion,  retiring  from 
the  governmental  perfecutions  of  the  old  world,  and  meeting  in  the 
new,  not  as  enemies,  but  as  brothers.  The  wants  which  nect^Har'ly 
•accompany  the  cultivation  of  a  wildernefs  produced  among  th-rr^  a 
ilate  of  fociely,  which  countries  long  h^vafT^d  by  the  quarrel?  ?nr  in- 
trio-ues  of  p-overnments,  had  nepl^aed  to  cheriH^-.  In  fuch  a  fituation 
man  becomes  what  he  ought.  He  fees  his  fpecies,  net  with  the  in- 
human idea  of  a  natural  eiien  y,  but  ??  kindred  ;,  a-^d  he  example 
fhews  to  the  artificial  world,  that  man  mufl:  go  back  to  nature  fof 
inform.ation. 

From  the  rapid  progTefs  which  America  makes  in  every  fpecies 
of  improvement,  it  is  rational  to  conch:de,  that  if  the  governme'.its 
of  Afia,  Africa,  and  Europe,  had  begun  on  a  principle  f'mih'r  t,c> 
that  of  America,  or  had  not  been  very  early  corrupted  therefrom, 
that  thofe  countries  mull  by  this  time  have  been  m  a  far  fuperiof 
condition  to  what  they  are.  Age  after  age  has  pafied  away,  for  no 
other  purpofe  than  to  behold  their  wretched  nefs.  Could  we  fuppofc 
a  fpe6lator  v/ho  knew  nothing  of  the  world,  and  who  was  put  into 
it  merely  to  make  his  obfervations,  he  would  take  a  great  part  of  the 
old  world  to  be  new,  juil  ftruggling  with  the  difficulties  and  hardfhips 
of  an  infant  fettlement.  He  could  not  fuppofe  that  the  hordes  of 
miferabie  poor,  with  which  old  countries  abound,  could  be  any  other 
than  thofe  who  had  not  yet  had  time  to  provide  for  themfelves.  Lit- 
tle would  he  think  they  v/ere  the  coufequence  of  what  in  fuch  couii- 
fries  is  called  government. 

If,  from  the  more  wretched  parts  of  the  old  v/orld,  wc  look  at 
thofe  which  are  in  an  advanced  (lage  of  improvement,  we  ftili  find 
the  greedy  hand  of  government  thrufling  itfelf  into  every  corner  and 
crevice  of  induftry,  and  grafping  the  fpoil  of  the  multitude.  Inven- 
tion is  continually  exercifed,  to  furnifh  new  pretences  for  revenue  and 
taxation.  It  watches  profperity  as  its  prey,  and  permits  none  to 
efcape  without  a  tribute. 

As  revolutions  have  begun  (and  as  the  probability  Is  always 
greater  againll  a  thnig  beginning,  than  of  proceeding  after  it  ha§ 
begun,)  it  ia  natural  to  expecfl  that  other  revolutions  will  follow* 
The  amazing  and  ftill  increafing  expences  with  which  old  govcrn- 
tjisnts  are  CQndwded^  the  n-uaieirous  wars  they  en^agq  ia  or  provoke^ 


RIGHTS    OF    MAN  ^S* 

die  embirraffments  they  throw  in  the  way  of  unlverfal  clvjllzation 
and  commerce,  and  the  oppreffion  and  iifurpation  they  act  at  )iome, 
btve  wearied  out  the  patience,  and  exhaufted  the  property  of  the 
world.  In  fuch  a  fituation,  and  with  the  examples  already  exilling, 
revolutions  are  to  be  looked  for.  They  are  become  fubje6ls  of  uni- 
▼erfal  converfation,  and  may  be  coniidered,  as  the  order  of  the  daym 

If  fyftems  of  government  can  be  introduced  lefs  expwifive,  and 
more  produftive  of  general  happinefs,  than  thofe  which  have  exilled, 
all  attempts  to  oppofe  their  progrefs  will  in  the  end  be  fruitlefs. 
•Reafon,  like  time,  will  m.ake  its  own  v/ay,  and  prejudice  will  fall  in 
the  combat  with  intereft.  If  univerfal  peace,  civilization  <nnd  com- 
merce are  ever  to  be  the  happy  lot  of  man,  it  cannot  be  accomplifhed 
but  by  a  revolution  m  the  fyllem  of  governments.  All  the  monar- 
chical governments  are  militar5\  War  is  their  trade,  plunder  aiid 
revenue  their  objedls.  While  fuch  governments  continue,  peace  has 
not  the  abfoliite  fecurity  of  a  day.  What  ie  the  hillory  of  all  monar- 
chical government^!,  but  a  diiguftful  pitture  of  human  wretchednefs, 
and  the  accidental  refpite  of  a  few  years  repofe  ?  Wearied  with  war, 
and  tired  with  human  butchery,  th;.'y  fat  down  to  reft  and  ca'led  it 
peace.  This  certainly  is  not  the  condition  that  Heaven  intended  for 
tnan  ;  and  if  this  be  monarchy^  well  might  monarchy  be  reckoned 
^mong  the  (ins  of  the  Jews. 

The  revolutions  which  formerly  took  place  in  the  world,  had  no- 
thing in  them  that  Interefted  the  bulk  of  mankind.  They  extended 
©Vily  to  a  change  of  perfons  and  mcafures  but  not  of  principles,  and 
rofe  or  f.^ll  among  the  common  tranfat^ions  of  the  momor.t.  What 
we  now  bf^hoM,  may  not  improperly  be  called  a  *'  counter  ■  evohit'ioH.^* 
Conqueit  and  tyranny,  at  fome  early  period,  difpoflefTd  m.an  of  his 
Tights,  and  he  is  now  recovering  them.  And  as  the  tide  of  all  human 
affairs  has  its  ebb  and  flow  in  dire>?tions  contrary  to  each  other,  fo 
alfo  is  it  in  this.  Government  founded  on  a  moral  theory,  en  a  fyjlem 
of  unlverfal  peace,  on  the  indefeafihle  hereditary  rights  of  man,  is  now  re- 
volving from  weft  to  eaft  by  a  ftronger  impulfe  than  the  govcrnm.ent 
of  the  fword  revolved  from  eaft  to  weft.  It  interefts  net  particular 
'  -individuals  but  nations  in  its  progrefs,  and  promifcs  a  new  era  to  the. 
iiuman  race. 

The  danger  to  v/hich  the  fucccfs  of  revolutions  is  moft  expof^d,  is 

that  of  attempting  them  before  the  priticiples  on  which  they  proceed, 

•and  the  advantages  to  refuU  from  them,  are   fufnciently  feen  and  un- 

^ierftood.      Almoft  every  thing  appertaining  to  the  ci'currftances  cf 

a-natica  \?a  bt^t^i)  abiurbed  aud  confouuaea  uui:cv  liie  general  and  my- 


152  PAINE 's    WORKS. 

fterious  word  government.  Though  it  avoids  taking  to  Its  account 
the  errors  it  commits,  and  the  mifchiefs  it  occafions,  it  fails  not  to 
arrogate  to  itff U'  whatever  has  the  appearance  of  profperity.  It  robs 
induilry  of  its  honours,  by  pedantically  making  itfelf  the  caufe  of  its 
effeifls ;  and  purloins  from  the  general  character  of  man,  the  merits 
that  appertain  to  him  as  a  focial  being. 

It  may  therefore  be  of  ufe,  in  this  day  of  revolutions,  to  dlfcrimi- 
nate  between  thofc  things  which  are  the  eiTecl  of  government,  and 
thoie  VN'hich  are  not.  This  will  btil  be  done  by  taking  a  review  of 
fociety  and  civilization,  and  the  confequences  refulting  therefrom,  as 
things  diilindl  from  what  arc  called  governments.  By  beginning 
with  this  invciligation,  we  fhall  be  able  to  afiign  effefbs  to  their  pro- 
per cuufc,  and  analyze  the  mafs  of  common  errors. 


CHAP.     I. 
OF  SOCIETY  AND  CIVILIZATION. 


G 


RE  AT  part  of  that  order  which  reigns  among  mankind  is  not  tlic 
effedl  of  government.  It  had  its  origin  in  the  principles  of  fociety, 
and  the  natural  conflitution  of  man.  It  exifted  prior  to  government, 
and  would  exifl  if  the  formality  of  government  was  abolifhed.  The 
mutual  dependence  and  reciprocal  interell  which  man  has  upon  man, 
and  all  the  paits  of  a  civilized  community  upon  each  other,  create  that 
great  chain  of  connexion  which  holds  it  together.  The  landholder, 
the  farmer,  the  manufacturer,  the  merchant,  the  tradefman,  and  every 
occupation  profpcrs  by  the  aid  which  each  receives  from  the  other, 
and  from  tlie  whole.  Common  intereft  regulates  their  concerns,  and 
forms  their  laws  ;  and  the  laws  which  common  ufage  ordains,  have  a 
greater  influence  than  the  lavi's  of  government.  In  fine,  fociety  per- 
forms for  itfelf  almoil  every  thing  v/hich  is  afcribed  to  government. 

To  underftand  the  nature  and  quantity  of  government  proper  for 
man,  it  is  neceffary  to  attend  to  his  charader.  As  nature  created 
him  for  focial  life,  flie  fitted  him  for  the  ftation  fhe  intended.  In  all 
cafes  fite  made  his  natural  wants  greater  than  his  individual  powers. 
No  one  man  is  capable,  without  the  aid  of  fociety,  of  fupplying  his 
own  wants  ;  and  thofe  wants,  ading  upon  every  individual,  impel 
the  whole  of  them  into  fociety,  as  naturally  as  gravitation  ads  to  a 
centra. 


RIGHTS     OF    MAN.  153 

But  fhe  has  gone  further.  She  has  not  only  forced  man  into 
fociety  by  a  diverfity  of  wants,  which  the  reciprocal  aid  of  edji^  other 
can  fupply,  but  fhe  has  implanted  in  him  a  fyitem  of  focial  aire^ions, 
which,  though  not  neceflary  to  his  exiftence,  are  eflential  to  his 
happinefs.  There  is  no  period  in  life  when  this  love  for  fociety  ceafes 
to  a«ft.     It  begins  and  ends  with  our  being. 

If  we  examine,  with  attention,  into  the  compofition  and  conflj- 
tution  of  man,  the  diverfity  of  his  wants,  and  the  diverfity  of  talents  in 
different  men  for  reciprocally  accommodating  the  wanis  of  each  other, 
his  propenfity  to  fociety,  and  confequently  to  preferve  the  advantages 
refulting  from  it,  we  fliall  eafily  difcover,  that  a  great  part  of  what  is 
called  government  is  mere  impofition. 

Government  is  no  farther  neceffary  than  to  fupply  the  few  cafes  to 
which  fociety  and  civilization  are  not  conveniently  competent ;  and 

;infiances  are  not  wanting  to  fhew  that  every  thing  which  government 

-can  ufefully  add  thereto,  has  been  performed  by  the  common  confent 

■of  fociety,  without  government. 

For  upwards  of  two  years  from  the  commencement  of  the 
American  war,  and   to  a  longer  period  in  feveral  of  the  Arnerican 

.dates,  there  were   no  eflablifhed  forms   of  government.     The  old 

-governments  had  been  aboliflied,  and  the  country  was  too  much 
occupied  in  defence,  to  employ  its  attention  in  efbbliihing  new 
governments;  yet  during   this    interval,  order   and   harmony  were 

,preferved  as  inviolate  as' in  any  country  in  Europe.  There  is  a  natural 
aptnefs  in  man,  and  more  fo  in  fociety,  becaufe  it  embraces  a  greater 
variety  of  abilities  and  refource,  to  accommodate  itfelf  to  whatever 
fituation  it  is  in.  The  inflant  formal  government  is  abolifhed,  f;ciety 
begins  to  a6l.  A  general  aflbciation  takes  place,  and  common 
intereft  produces  common  fecurity. 

So  far  is  it  from  being  true,  as  has  been  pretended,  that  the  aboli- 
tion of  any  formal  government  is  the  diffolution  of  fociety,  that  it  acls 
by  a  contrary  impulfe,  and  brings  the  latter  the  clofer  together.  All 
that  part  of  its  organization  which  it  had  committed  to  its  government, 
devolves  again  upon  itfelf,  and'  a6ts  through  its  medium.  When 
men,  as  well  from  natural  inilind,  as  from  reciprocal  benefits,  have 
habituated  themfelves  to  focial  and  civilized  life,  there  is  always 
enough  of  its  principles  in  practice  to  carry  them  through  any  changes 
they  may  find  neceffary  or  convenient  to  make  in  their  government. 
In  fhort,  man  is  fo  naturally  a  creature  of  fociety,  that  it  is  almofl 

.  impofTible  to  put  him  out  of  it. 

Vol.  II.  X 


154  P  A  I  N  E  '  s     WORKS. 

Formal  government  makes  but  a  fmall  part  of  civilized  life  ;  and 
when  even  the  beft  that  human  wifdom  can  devife  is  eftablilhed,  it  is 
a  thing  more  in  name  and  idea,  than  in  fad.  It  is  to  the  great  arid 
'  fundamental  principles  of  fociety  and  civilization — to  the  common 
ufage  univerfally  confented  to,  and  mutually  and  reciprocally  main- 
tained— to  the  unceafing  circulation  of  intereft,  which,  pafTing  through 
its  million  channels,  invigorates  the  whole  mafs  of  civilized  man — it 
is  to  thefe  things,  infinitely  more  than  to  any  thing  which  even  the 
beft  inftituted  government  can  perform,  that  the  fafety  and  profperity 
of  the  individual  and  of  the  whole  depends. 

The  more  perfedt  civilization  is,  the  lefs  occafion  has  it  for  govern- 
ment, becaufe  the  more  does  it  regulate  its  own  affairs,  and  govern 
itfelf ;  but  fo  contrary  is  the  practice  of  old  governments  to  the  reafon 
of  the  cafe,  that  the  expences  of  them  increafe  in  the  proportion  they 
ought  to  diminifh.  It  is  but  few  general  laws  that  civilized  life 
requires,  and  thofe  of  fach  common  ufefalnefs,  that  whether  they  are 
enforced  by  the  forms  of  government  or  not,  the  effed  will  be  nearly 
the  fame.  If  we  confidcr  what  the  principles  are  that  firft  condenfe 
men  into  fociety,  and  what  the  motives  that  regulate  their  mutual 
intercourfe  afterwards,  we  fliall  find,  by  the  time  we  arrive  at  what 
is  called  government,  that  nearly  the  whole  of  the  bufinefs  is  per- 
formed by  the  natural  operation  of  the  parts  upon  each  other, 

Man,  with  refpe6l  to  all  thofe  matters,  is  more  a  creature  of 
confiftency  than  he  is  aware,  or  than  governments  would  wifli  him  to 
believe.  All  the  great  laws  of  fociety  are  laws  of  nature.  Thofe  of 
trade  and  commerce,  whether  with  refpect  to  the  intercourfe  of  indivi- 
duals, or  of  nations,  are  laws  of  mutual  and  reciprocal  intereft. 
They  are  followed  and  obeyed,  becaufe  it  is  the  intereft  of  the  parties 
fo  to  do,  and  not  on  account  of  any  formal  laws  their  governments 
may  impofe  or  interpofe. 

But  how  often  is  the  natural  propenflty  to  fociety  difturbed  or 
deftroyed  by  the  operations  of  government !  When  the  latter,  inftead 
of  being  ingrafted  on  the  principles  of  the  former,  affumes  to  exiftfor 
itfelf,  and  afls  by  partialities  of  favour  and  oppreflion,  it  becomes  the 
caufe  of  the  mifchiefs  itoupht  to  prevent. 

If  we  look  back  to  the  riots  and  tumults,  which  at  various  times 
have  happened  in  England,  we  fhall  find,  that  they  did  not  proc&ed 
from  the  want  of  a  povernment,  but  that  government  was  itfelf  the 
generating  caufe  ;  initead  of  confolidating  fociety,  it  ditided  it ;  it 
deprived  it  of  its  natural  cohefion,  and  engendered  difcontents  and 


RIGHTS     OF    MA  N.  155 

diforders,  which  otherwife  would  not  have  exifted.  .In  thofe 
aflbciations  which  men  promifcuoufly  form  for  the  purpofe  of  trade, 
or  of  any  concern,  in  which  government  is  totally  out  of  ihe  queftion, 
and  in  which  they  afl  merely  on  thepiinciples  offbciety,  we  fee  how 
naturally  the  various  parties  unite  ;  and  this  fliews,  by  comparifon, 
that  governments,  fo  far  from  being  always  the  caufe  or  means  of 
order,  are  often  the  deftrutiion  of  it.  The  riots  of  1780  had  no 
other  fource  than  the  remains  of  thofe  prejudices,  v/hich  the  govern- 
ment Itfelf  had  encouraged.  But  with  refped  to  England  there  are 
alfo  other  caufes. 

Excefs  and  inequality  of  taxation,  however  difguifed  in  the  means, 
never  fail  to  appear  in  their  effeft.  As  a  great  mafs  of  the  community 
are  thrown  thereby  into  poverty  and  difcontent,  they  are  condantly 
on  the  brink  of  commotion  ;  and,  deprived,  as  they  unfortunately  are, 
of  the  means  of  information,  areeafily  heated  to  outrage.  Whatever 
the  apparent  caufe  of  any  riots  may  be,  the  real  one  is  always  want  of 
happinefs.  It  fhews  that  fomething  is  wrong  in  the  fyftem  of  govern- 
ment, that  injures  the  felici.y  by  which  fociety  is  to  be  preferved. 

But  as  fa6l  is  fuperior  to  reafoning,  the  inflance  of  America  pre- 
fents  itfelf  to  confirm  thefe  obfervations. — If  there  is  a  country  in  the 
world,  where  concord,  according  to  common  calculation,  would  be 
lea/t  expeded,  it  is  America.  Made  up,  as  it  is,  of  people  from 
different  nations,*  accuftomed  to  different  forms  and  habits  of  govern- 
ment, fpeaking  different  languages,  and  more  different  in  their  modes 
of  worfliip,  it  would  appear  that  the  union  of  fuch  a  people  was 
impradicable  ;  but  by  the  limple  operation  of  conftruding  government 

*  That  part  of  America  ivh'ich  is  generally  called  Netv-England, 
Including  Neiv-Hampjhire^  Majfachufeits^  Rhode-JJland,  and  Cari^eC', 
ticutf  is  peopled  chief.y  by  Engli/Jo  defcendants.  In  the  Jlate  of  Neiu-r^ 
Tork,  about  half  are  Dutch,  the  refi  Engl'ijld^  Scotch,  ond  I  ijlo.  In 
Neiv-ycrfey,  a  mixture  of  Engl'JJo  and  Duich,  'with  feme  Scotch  and 
Iri/Jj.  In  Pennfyl'vania,  about  one  third  are  EngljfJj,  another  Germans^ 
and  the  remainder  Scotch  and  Irflo,  ivith  fome  Snvedes.  "^ihejlates  to 
the  fouthnvard  have  a  greater  proportion  of  Englifh  than  the  middie  States, 
but  in  ell  of  them  there  is  a  mixture ;  and  hejides  thofe  enumerated^ 
there  are  a  conjiderable  number  of  French,  end  fome  few  of  all  the  Eu- 
ropean nations  lying  on  the  coafl.  The  mofl  numerous  reliff^us  dtnomi- 
nation  are  the  PreJl^Uriaus  ;  but  no  one  fc^  is  ejlabli/licd . above  another, 
and  all  men  are  equally  cilizer.s. 


156  PAINE's    WORKS. 

on  the  principles  of  fociety  and  the  rights  of  man,  every  difnculty 
retires,  and  all  the  parts  are  brought  into  cordial  iinifon.  There, 
the  poor  are  not  opprelfed,  the  rich  are  not  privileged.  Indiiftry  is 
not  mortified  by  the  fplendid  extravagance  of  a  court  rioting  at  its 
expcnce.  Their  taxes  are  few,  becaufe  their  government  is  juft  ; 
and  as  there  is  nothing  to  render  them  wretched,  there  is  nothing  to 
engender  riots  and  tumults. 

A  metaphyfcal  man,  like  Mr.  Burke,  would  have  tortured  his 
invention  to  difcover  how  fuch  a  people  could  be  governed.  He 
would  have  fuppofed  that  fome  muft  be  managed  by  fraud,  others  by 
force,  and  all  by  fome  contrivance  ;  that  genius  mull  be  hired  to 
impofe  upon  ignorance,  and  Ihew  and  parade  to  fafcinate  the  vulgar^ 
Loft  in  the  abundance  of  his  refearches,  he  would  have  refolved  and 
re-refolvid,  and  finally  overlooked  the  plain  and  eafy  road  that  lay 
direddy  before  him. 

One  of  the  great  advantages  of  the  American  revolution  has  been, 
that  it  led  to  a  difcovery  of  ihe  principles,  and  laid  open  the  impofition 
of  governments.  All  the  revolutions  till  then  had  been  worked 
within  the  atmcfphcrc  of  a  cotirt,  and  never  on  the  great  floor  of  a 
liation.  The  parties  v/ere  always  of  the  clafs  of  courtiers  ;  and 
whatever  was  their  rage  for  reformation,  they  carefully  preferved  the 
fraud  of  the  profefiion. 

In  all  cafes  they  took  care  to  reprefent  government  as  a  thing  made 
lip  of  myfteries,  which  only  themfelves  underftood  :  and  they  hid 
from  the  underftanding  of  the  nation,  the  only  thing  that  was  bene- 
ficial  to  know,  namely,  T hai  government  is  nothing  more  than  a 
rational  ojfoc'iat'ion  aEt'ing  on  the  principles  of  fociety. 

Having  thus  endeavoured  to  fhew,  that  the  focial  and  civilized  ftate 
of  man  is  capable  of  performing  within  itfelf,  almoft  every  thing 
necefiary  to  its  protection  and  government,  it  will  be  proper,  on  the 
other  hand,  to  take  a  review  of  the  prefent  old  governments,  and 
examine  whether  their  principles  and  praftice  are  correfpondent 
thereto. 


■0B6l3§GjS^EE0>' 


CHAP.    n. 

Of  the  Origin  of  the  prefent  Old  Governments. 

T  is  impoffible  that  fuch  governments  as  have  hitherto  exifted  in  the 
world,  could  have  ccmmcnced  by  any  other  means  than  a  total  viola- 


RIGHT'S^    OF    MAN.  157 

ttOli  of  every  principle  facred  and  moral.  The  obfcuTity  in  which 
the  origin  of  all  the  prefent  old  governments  is  buried,  implies  the 
ihiquity  and  difgrace  with  which  they  began.  The  origin  of  the' 
prefent  government  of  America  and  France  will  ever  be  remembered, 
becaufe  it  Is  honourable  to  record  it  ;  but  with  refpedt  to  the  reft, 
even  Flattery  has  configned  them  to  the  tomb  of  time,  without  an 
infcription. 

It  could  have  been  no  difficult  thing  in  the  early  and  folitary  ages 
cfthe  world,  while  the  chief  employment  of  men  was  that  of  attend- 
ing flocks  and  herds,  for  a  banditti  of  ruffians  to  overrun  a  country, 
and  lay  it  under  contributions.  Their  power  being  thus  eftablifhed, 
the  chief  of  the  band  contrived  to  lofe  the  name  of  robber  in  that  of 
monarch  ;  and  hence  the  ciigin  of  monarchy  and  kings. 

The  origin  of  the  govtrrment  of  England,  fo  far  as  relates  to  what 
is  called  its  line  of  monarchy,  being  one  of  the  lateft,  is  perhaps  the 
beft  recorded.  The  hatred  which  ihc  Norman  invafibn  and  tyranny 
begat,  muft  have  been  deeply  rooted  in  the  nation,  to  have  out-lived 
the  contrivance  to  obliterate  it.  Though  not  a  courtier  will  talk  of 
the  corfeubell,  not  a  village  in  England  has  forgotten  it. 

Thofe  bands  of  robbers  having  parcelled  out  the  world,  and  divided 
into  dominions,  began,  as  is  naturally  the  cafe,  to  quarrel  v/ith  each 
other.  What  at  firft  was  obtained  by  violence,  was  confidered  by 
others  as  lawful  to  be  taken,  and  a  fccond  plunderer  fucceeded  the 
firft.  They  alternately  invaded  the  dominions  which  each  had 
affigned  to  himfelf,  and  the  brutality  with  which  they  treated  each 
other  explains  the  original  character  of  monarchy.  It  was  ruffian 
torturing  ruffian.  The  conqueror  confidered  the  conquered  not  as 
his  prifoner,  but  his  property.  He  led  him  in  triumph  rattling  in 
chains,  and  doomed  him,  at  pleafure,  to  flavery  or  death.  As  time 
obliterated  the  hiftory  of  their  beginning,  their  fucceflbi  s  aiuimed  new 
appearances,  to  cut  off  the  entail  of  their  difgrace,  but  their  principles 
and  objeds  remained  the  fame.  What  at  firft  was  plunder  afTumed 
the  fofter  name  of  revenue  ;  and  the  power  originally  ufurped,  thev 
affetfted  to  inherit. 

From  fuch  beginning  of  governments,  what  could  be  expedled,  but 
a  continual  fyftem  of  war  and  extortion  ?  It  has  eftabhflied  itfelf 
into  a  trade.  The  vice  Is  not  peculiar  to  one  more  than  to  another, 
but  is  the  common  principle  of  all.  There  does  not  exift  within  fuch 
governments  a  ftamina  v/hereon  to  ingraft  reformation  f  and  the 
fhorteft  and  moft  efFe(^ual  remedy  is  to  begin  aiiew. 


158  PAINE's    WORK'S.' 

What  fcenes  of  horror,  what  perfedion  of  iniquity,  prefent  th'm- 
-felves  in  contemplating  the  charafler,  and  reviewing  the  hulory  of 
fuch  governments  !  If  we  would  delineate  human  nature  with  a 
bafenefs  of  heart,  and  hypocrify  of  countenance,  that  reflexion  would 
fliudder  at  and  humanity  difowri,  it  is  kings,  courts,  and  cabinets, 
that  mull  lit  for  the  portrait.  Man,  naturally  as  he  is,  with  all  his 
faults  about  him,  is  not  up  to  the  charadler. 

Can  we  poiTibly  fuppofe  that  i;  government  had  originated  in  a 
right  principle,  and  had  not  an  intered  in  purfuing  a  wrong  one,  that 
the  world  could  have  been  in  the  wretched  and  quarrelfome  condition 
we  have  feen  it  ?  What  inducement  has  the  farmer,  while  following 
the  plough,  to  lay  afide  his  peaceful  purfuits,  and  go  to  war  with  the 
farmer  of  another  country  ?  Or  what  inducement  has  the  manufac- 
turer :  What  is  dominion  to  them,  or  to  any  clafs  of  men  in  a  nation  ? 
Does  it  add  an  acre  to  any  man's  eflate,  or  raife  its  value  ?  Are  not 
conqueil:  and  defeat  each  of  the  fame  price,  and  taxes  the  never-failing 
confequence  ? — Though  this  reafoning  may  be  good  to  a  nation,  it  is 
not  fo  to  a  government.  War  is  the  Pharo  table  of  governments, 
and  nations  the  dupes  of  the  game. 

If  there  is  any  thing  to  wonder  at  in  this  miferable  fcene  of 
gov^nments,  more  than  might  be  expeded,  it  is  the  progrefs  which 
the  peaceful  arts  of  agriculture,  manufadure,  and  commerce  have  made, 
beneath  fuch  a  long  accumulating  load  of  difcouragement  and 
oppreffion.  It  ferves  to  fliew,  that  inftind  in  animals  does  not  act  with 
flronger  impulfe,  than  the  principles  of  fociety  and  civilization 
operate  in  man.  Under  all  difcouragements,  he  purfues  his  objedl, 
s.nd  yields  to  nothing  but  impoiTibilities. 


CHAP.     Til. 

Ofnhe  Old  and  New  Sji/iems  of  Government. 

J3J  OTHING  can  appear  more  contradidory  than  the  principles 
'on  which  the  old  goveraments  began,  and  the  condition  to  which 
fociety,  civiUzation,  and  commerce,  are  capable  of  carrying  mankind. 
'  Government  on  the  old  fyftem,  is  an  afTumption  of  power,  for  the 
aggrandifement  of  itfelf;  on  the  new,  a  delegation  of  power,  for  the 


RIGHTS     OF    MAN.  159 

common  benefit  of'fociety.  The  former  fupports  itfelf  by  keeping 
up  a  fyflem  of  war;  the  latter  promotes  a  fyCiem  of  peace,  as  the 
true  means  of  enriching  a  nation.  The  one  encouriiges  national 
prejudices;  the  other  promotes  univerfal  fociety,  as  the  rrteans  of 
uriiverfal  commerce.  The  one  meafures.  its  profperity,  by  the 
quantity  of  revenue  it  extorts;  the  oiher  proves  its  excellence,  by  the 
fmall  quantity  of  taxes  it  requires. 

Mi.  Burke  has  talked  of  old  and  new  whigs.      If  he  can  amufe  him- 
felf  with  childifli   names   and    ditl:in6tions,   I  ftiall   not  interrupt  his 
pleafure.      It  is  not  to  him,  but  to  the  Abbe  Sieyes,  that  I  addrefs 
this  chapter.     I  am  already  engaged  to  the  latter  gentleman,  to  dif- 
cufs  the  fubjed  of  monarchicalgovernment;  and  as  it  naturally  occurs    -i-^ 
in  comparing  the  old  and  new  fyrtems,  I  make  this  the  opportunity  1^' a:, t 
of  prefenting  to  him  my  obfervations.     I  fiiall  occafionally  take  Mr.   ;  T^ 
Burke  in  my  way. 

Though  it  might  be  proved  that  the  fyftem  of  government  now  cal- 
led the  NEW,  is  the  mod  ancient  in  principle  of  all  that  have  exifted, 
being  founded  on  the  original  inherent  Rights  of  Man :  yet,  as  tyran- 
ny and  the  fword  have  fufpended  the  exercife  of  thofe  rights  for 
many  centuries  paft,  it  ferves  better  the  purpofe  of  diltindion  to  call 
it  the  neiUf  than  to  claim  the  right  of  calling  it  the  old. 

The  firft  general  diftindion  between  thofe  twofyftems,  is,  that  the 
one  now  called  the  old  is  hereditary,  either  in  whole  or  in  part;  and 
the  new  is  entirely  reprefentat'i've.  It  rejects  all  hereditary  govern- 
ment: 

Firft,  As  being  an  impofition  on  mankind. 

Secondly,  As  inadequate  to  the  purpofes  for  which  government  is 
neceffary. 

With  refped  to  the  fird  of  thefe  heads — It  cannot  be  proved  by 
what  right  hereditary  government  could  begin :  neither  does  there  exilji 
within  the  compafs  of  mortal  power,  a  right  to  eftablifh  it.  Man  has 
fiO  authority  over  pofterity  in  matters  of  perfonal  right;  and  therefore, 
no  man,  or  body  of  men,  had,  or  can  have,  a  right  to  fet  un  heredi- 
tary government.  Were  even  ourfelves  to  come  again  into  exigence, 
indead  of  being  fucceeded  by  poderity,  we  have  not  now  the  right  of 
taking  from  ourfelves  the  rights  which  would  then  be  ours.  On 
what  ground,  then,  do  we  pretend  to  take  them  from  others? 

All  hereditary  government  is  in  its  nature  tyranny.     An  heiitable 
crown,  or  an  heritable  throne,  or  by  what  other  fanciful  name  fuch  " 
things  may  be  called,  have  no  other  fignil:cant  explanation  than  that 


i6o  P  A  I  N  E  '  s     W  O  Tv  K  S. 

mankind  are  heritable  property.     To  inherit  a  government,  Is  to  inhe- 
rit the  people,  as  if  they  vvere  flocks  and  herds. 

With  refpect  to  the  kcond  head,  that  of  being  inadequate  to  the 
purpofes  for  which  government  is  necefTary,  we  have  only  to  confider 
"what  government  elfentially  is,  and  compare  it  with  the  circumliances 
to  which  hereditary  fucceiri>)n  isfubjefi:. 

Government  ought  to  be  a  thing  always  in  fall  maturity.  It  ought 
to  be  fo  conftruded  as  to  be  fuperior  to  all  the  accidents  to  which  indi- 
vidual man  isfubjecl;  and  therefore,  hereditary  fucceiTion,  by  being 
fubjecl  to  them  ally  is  the  moil  irregular  and  imperfed  of  all  the  fyftems 
of  government. 

We  have  heard  the  Rights  of  Man  called  2.  levelling  fyflem;  but 
the  only  fyflem  to  which  the  word  levelling  is  truly  applicable,  is  the 
hereditary  monarchical  fydem.  It  is  a  fyftem  of  mental  levelling.  It 
indifcriminately  admits  every  fpecies  of  charader  to  the  fame  authority. 
Vice  and  virtue,  ignorance  and  wiidom,  in  fliort,  every  quality,  good 
or  bad,  is  put  on  the  fame  level.  Kings  fucceed  each  other,  not  as 
rationals,  but  as  animals.  It  figniiies  not  what  their  mental  or  moral 
characters  are.  Can  we  then  be  furprifed  at  the  abjeft  (late  of  the 
human  mi.id  in  monarchical  countries,  v/hen  the  government  itfelf  is 
formed  on  fuch  an  abjed  levelling  fyilem? — It  has  no  fixed  charader. 
To-day  it  is  one  thing;  and  to-morrow  it  is  fomething  elfc.  It  chan- 
ges v/ith  the  temper  of  every  fucceeding  individual,  and  is  fubjed  to 
all  the  varieties  ofeach.  It  is  government  through  the  medium  of  paf- 
Hons  and  accidents.  It  appears  under  all  the  various  charaders  of 
childhood,  decrepitude,  dorage,  a  thing  at  nurfe,  in  leading-ftrings, 
or  in  crutches  Ir  re\erfes  the  wholefome  order  of  nature.  It  occa- 
iionallyputs  children  over  mei,  a  d  the  conceits  of  non-age  over  wif- 
dom  and  experience.  In  ihort,  we  cannot  conceive  a  more  ridicu- 
lous figure  of  government,  than  hereditary  fuccellion,  in  all  its  cafesi 
prefents. 

Could  it  be  made  a  decree  in  nature,  or  an  euid  reoiflered  in  hea- 
van,  and  man  could  knov/  ii:,  that  virtue  and  wifdom  fhould  invariably 
appertain  to  hereditary  fucceflion,  the  objedions  to  it  would  be  remo- 
ved; bur  when  we  fee  that  nature  ads  as  if  fhe  difowned  and  fported 
with  the  hereditary  fydem;  that  the  mental  charaders  of  fucceffors, 
in  all  countiies,  are  belov/ the  average  of  human  underflanding;  that 
one  k  a  tyrant,  another  an  ideot,  a  third  infane,  and  fome  all  three 
together,  it  is  impoHible  to  attach, confidence  to  it,  when  reafon  in 
man  has  power  to  ad. 


V       R  t  G  H  T  S     O  F    M  A  N.  i6i 

It  is  not  to  the  Abbe  Sieyes  that  I  need  apply  this  rcafoning;  he 
has  already  faved  me  that  trouble,  by  giving  his  own  opinion  upon  the 
cafe.  *'  If  it  be  aflced,"  fays  he,  "  what  is  my  opinion  with  refpedl 
"  to  hereditary  right,  I  anfvver,  without  hefitation,  that,  in  good 
*'  theory,  an  hereditary  tranfmiHion  of  any  power  or  office,  can  never 
**  accord  with  the  laws  of  a  true  reprefentation.  Hereditaryfliip  is, 
**  in  this  fenfe,  as  much  an  attaint  upon  principle,  as  an  outrage  upon 
"  fociety.  Bat  let  us,"  condnues  he,  *'  refer  to  the  hiitory  of  all 
**  eledive  monarchies  and  principalities:  is  there  one  in  which  the 
**  elective  mode  is  not  worfe  than  the  hereditary  fucceflion?" 

As  to  debating  on  which  is  the  worft  of  the  tv^o,  is  admitting  both 
to  be  bad;  and  herein  we  are  agreed.  The  preference  which  the 
Abbe  has  given,  is  a  condemnation  of  the  thing  diat  he  prefers. 
Such  a  mode  of  realoning  on  fuch  a  fubjecSt  is  inadmifllble,  becaufe 
it  finally  amounts  to  an  accufation  upon  Providence,  as  if  (he 
had  left  to  man  no  other  choice  with  refped:  to  government  than  be- 
tween two  evils,  the  beft  of  which  he  admits  to  be,  "  an  attaint  upon 
*^  principle,  and  an  outrage  upon  fociety.^* 

Palling  over,  for  the  prefent,  all  the  evils  and  mifchiefs  which 
monarchy  has  occalioned  in  the  world,  notliing  can  more  effcfliiilly 
prove  its  ufeleffnefs  in  a  ftate  of  ci'vil  government,  than  making  it 
hereditary.  Would  we  make  any  office  hereditary  that  required 
wifdom  and  abilities  to  fill  it  ?  and  where  v/ifdom  and  abilides  are 
not  neceflary,  fucji  an  office,  whatever  it  may  be,  is  fuperHuous  or 
inlignificant. 

Hereditary  fucceflion  is  a  burlefque  upon  monarchy.  It  puts  Vl  in 
the  mod:  ridiculous  light,  by  prefenting  it  as  an  office  v/hich  any 
child  or  ideot  may  fill.  It  requires  forae  talents,  to  be  a  common 
mechanic  ;  but,  to  be  a  king,  requires  only  the  animal  figure  of 
man — a  fort  of  breathing  automaton.  This  fort  of  fuperdition  may 
lalt  a  few  years  more,  but  it  cannot  loner  reiift  the  awakened  reafon 
and  intere ft  of  man. 

As  to  Mr.  Burke,  he  is  a  (lickler  for  monarchy,  not  altogether  as 
a  penfioner,  if  he  is  one,  which  I  believe,  but  as  a  political  man. 
He  has  taken  up  a  contem.ptible  opinion  of  mankind,  who,  in  their 
turn,  are  taking  up  the  fame  of  him.  He  confiders  them  as  a  herd  of 
beings  that  muft  be  governed  by  fraud,  effigy,  and  fliew  ;  and  an  idol 
would  be  as  good  a  figure  of  monarchy  with  him,  as  a  man.  I  will, 
however,  do  him  thejullice  to  fay,  that,  with  refpe(51:  to  America,  he 
iias  been  very  complimentary.     He  always  contended,  at  lead  in  my 

Vol.  II.  Y 


i62  P  A  INE' s    wo  R  KS. 

hearing,  that  the  people  of  America  were  more  enlightened  than 
thofe  of  England,  or  of  any  country  in  Europe  ;  and  that  therefore 
the  impofition  of  fnew  was  not  necelTary  in  their  governments. 

Though  the  comparifon  between  Hereditary  and  eledive  monarchy, 
which  the  Abbe  had  made,  is  unneceffary  to  the  cafe,  becaufe  the 
reprefentative  fyftem  rejedls  both  ;  yet,  were  I  to  make  the  comparifon, 
I  Ihould  decide  contrary  to  what  he  has  done. 

The  civil  v/ars  which  have  originated  from  conteded  hereditary 
claims,  are  more  num.erous,  and  have  been  more  dreadful,  and  of 
longer  continuance,  than  thofe  which  have  been  occadoned  by 
eledion.  All  the  civil  wars  in  France  arofe  from  the  hereditary 
fyftem  ;  they  were  either  produced  by  hereditary  claims,  or  by  the 
imperfedion  of  the  hereditary  form,  which  admits  of  regencies,  or 
monarchy  at  nurfe.  With  refpe6l  to  England,  its  hiftory  is  full  of 
the  fame  misfortunes.  The  contefts  for  fucceffion  between  the 
houfes  of  York  and  Lancafter,  lafted  a  whole  century  ;  and  others 
of  a  fimilar  nature,  have  renewed  themfelves  fince  that  period. 
Thofe  of  1715  and  1745?  were  of  the  fame  kind.  The  fucceffion 
war  for  the  crown  of  Spain,  embroiled  almoft  half  Europe.  The 
difturbances  in  Holland  are  generated  from  the  hereditary fliip  of  the 
fladtholder.  A  government  calling  itfelf  free,  with  an  hereditary 
office,  is  like  a  thorn  in  the  flefh,  that  produces  a  fermentation  which 
endeavours  to  difcharge  it. 

But  I  might  go  further,  and  place  alfo  foreign  wars,  of  whatever 
kind,  to  the  fame  caufe.  It  is  by  adding  the  evil  of  hereditary 
fucceffion  to  that  of  monarchy,  that  a  permanent  family  intereft  is 
created,  whofe  confrant  objecls  are  dominion  and  revenue.  Poland, 
though  an  ele6live  monarchy,  has  had  fewer  wars  than  thofe  which 
are  hereditary  ;  and  it  is  the  only  government  that  has  made  a 
voluntary  effay,  though  but  a  fmall  one,  to  reform  the  condition  of 
the  country. 

Having  thus  glanced  at  a  few  of  the  defers  of  the  old,  or  heredi- 
tary fyftems  of  govermuent,  let  us  compare  it  Vvith  the  new,  or 
reprefentative  fyftem. 

The  reprefentative  fyftem  takes  fociety  and  civilization  for  its  bafis; 
nature,  reafon,   and  experience,    for  its  guide. 

Experience,  in  all  ages,  and  in  all  countries  has  demonftrated, 
that  it  is  impofible  to  control  Nature  in  her  diftribution  of  mental 
powers.  She  gives  them  as  fiie  pleafes.  Whatever  is  the  rule  by 
which   fiie,   apparently  to  us,  fcatters  them  among  mankind,    that 


R  I  G  H  T  S     O  F    M  A  N.  163 

rule  remains  a  fecret  to  man.  It  would  be  as  ridiculous  to  attempt  to 
fix  the  hereditarydiip  of  human  beauty,  as  of  wifdom.  Whatever 
wifdom  condituently  is,  it  is  Uke  a  feedkfs  plant ;  it  may  be  reared 
when  it  ap}>ears,  but  it  cannot  be  voluntarily  produced.  There  is 
always  a  fufficiency  fomewhere  in  the  general  mafs  of  fociety  for  all 
purpofes  ;  but  with  refpecfl  to  the  parts  of  fociety,  it  is  continually 
changing  its  place.  It  rifes  in  one  to-day,  in  another  to-morrow, 
and  has  moft  probably  vifited  in  rotation  every  family  of  the  earth', 
and  again  withdrawn. 

As  this  is  the  order  of  nature,  the  order  of  government  mud 
neceflary  follow  it^  or  government  will,  as  we  fee  it  does,  degenerate 
into  ignorance.  The  hereditary  fyftem,  therefore,  is  as  repugnant 
to  human  v/ifdom,  as  to  human  rights  :  and  is  as  abfurd,  as  it  is 
unjufi. 

As  the  republic  of  letters  brings  forward  the  bed  literary  produc- 
tions, by  giving  to  genius  a  fair  and  univerfal  chance  ;  fo  the 
reprefentativc  fyflem  of  government  is  calculated  to  produce  the  wifefl 
laws,  by  collecting  wifdom  from  v/here  it  can  be  found.  I  fmiie  to 
myfelf  when  I  contemplate  the  ridiculous  infignificance  into  which 
literature  and  ail  the  fciences  would  fmk,  were  they  made  hereditary ; 
and  I  carry  the  fame  idea  into  governments.  An  hereditary  governor 
is  as  inconfiltent  as  an  hereditary  author.  I  know  not  whether 
Homer  or  Euclid  had  fons  :  but  I  will  venture  an  opinion,  that  if 
they  had,  and  had  left  their  works  unfiniflied,  thofe  fons  could  not 
have  completed  them. 

Do  we  need  a  flronger  evidence  of  the  abfurdity  of  hereditary 
government,  than  is  feen  in  defcendants  of  thofe  men,  in  any  line  of 
life,  v/ho  once  were  famous  ?  Is  there  fcarcely  an  inftance  in  v.'hich 
there  is  not  a  total  reverfe  of  the  charailer  ?  It  appears  as  if  the 
tide  of  mental  faculties  flowed  as  far  as  it  could  in  certain  channels, 
and  then  forfook  its  courfe,  and  arofe  in  others.  How  irrational 
then  is  the  hereditary  fyftem  which  eftablifhes  channels  of  power,  in 
company  v/ith  v/hich  wifdom  refafes  to  fiov/  !  By  continuing  this 
abfurdity,  man  is  perpetually  in  contradiction  with  himfelf;  he 
accepts,  for  a  king,  or  a  chief  magiflrate,  or  a  iegiilator,  a  perfon 
whom  he  would  not  eledt  for  a  conflable. 

It  appears  to  general  obfervation,  that  revolutions  create  genius 
and  talents  ;  but  thofe  events  do  no  more  than  bring  them  forward. 
There  is  exiiHng  in  man,  a  mafs  of  fcnfe  lying  in  a  dormant  ftate, 
and   which,   unlefs  fomething  excites  it  to  adion,  will  defcend  with 


1.64  P  A  I  N  E  '  s    W:0  R  K  S. 

him,  in  that  condition,  to  the  grave.  As  it  is  to  the  advantage  of 
foeiety  that  the  whole  of  its  faculties  (hould  be  employed,  the  con- 
ftruclion  of  government  ought  to  be  fuch  as  to  bring  forward,  by  a 
q&ict  and  regular  operation,  all  that  extent  of  capacity  which  never 
fails  to  appear  in  revolutions. 

This  cannot  take  ibxc  in  the  infipid  (late  of  hereditary  govern- 
ment, not  only  becaufe  it  prevents,  but  becaufe  it  operates  to  benumb. 
Vv'^hen  the  mind  of  a  nation  is  bowed  down  by  aqy  political  fuperflitioa 
in  its  government,  fuch  as  hereditary  fuccellion  is,  it  lofes  a 
confiderable  portion  of  its  powers  on  all  other  fubje^ls  and  objects. 
Hereditary  fuccefiion  requires  the  fame  obedience  to  ignorance,  as  to 
v/ifdom ;  and  when  cnce  the  mind  can  bring  itfelf  to  pay  this 
indilcriminate  reverence,  it  defcends  below  the  flatute  of  mental 
manhood.  It  is  fit  to  be  great  only  in  little  things.  It  a(fls  a 
treachery  upon  itfelf,  and  fuffocates  the  fenfations  that  urge  to 
detection. 

Though  the  ancient  governments  prefent  to  us  a  miferable  piclure 
of  the  condition  of  m.an,  there  is  one  which  above  ail  others  exempts 
itfelf  from  the  general  defcription.  I  mean  the  democracy  of  the 
Athenians.  We  fee  more  to  admire,  and  Icfs  to  condemn,  in  that 
great,    extraordinary  people,  than  in  any  thing  which  hiflory  affords. 

Mr.  Burke  is  fo  little  acquainted  with  confHtuent  principles  of 
government,  that  he  confounds  democracy  and  reprefentation 
together.  Reprefentation  was  a  thing  unknovv^n  in  the  ancient  demo- 
cracies. In  thofe  the  mafs  of  the  people  met  and  enaded  laws 
(grammatically  f>)eaking)  in  the  fird  perfon.  Simple  democracy  was 
no  other  than  the  common  hall  of  the  ancients.  It  fignifes  xhtfonuy 
as  v/ell  as  the  public  principle  of  the  government.  As  fhefe  demo- 
cracies increafed  in  population,  and  the  territory  extended,  the 
fi mple  democratical  form  became  unwieldly  and  impradicable  ;  and  as 
the  fyltem  of  reprefentation  was  not  known,  the  confequence  was, 
they  either  degenerated  convulfively  into  monarchies,  or  became 
abforbed  into  fuch  as  then  exifled.  Had  the  fyllem  of  reprefentation 
been  then  underilood,  as  it  now  is,  there  is  no  reafon  to  believe  that 
thofe  forms  of  government,  now  called  monarchical  or  ariflocratical 
would  ever  have  taken  place.  It  was  the  want  of  fome  method  to 
confolidate  the  pa;rts  of  foeiety,  after  it  became  too  populous,  and  too 
cxtenfive  for  the  f;mple  democratical  form,  and  alfo  the  lax  and 
folitary  condition  of  diepherds  and  herdfmen  in  other  parts  of  the 
world,  that  afforded  opportunities  to  thofe  unnatural  modes  of 
government  to  begin. 


RIGHTS     OFMAN.  i6s 

As  it  is  neceflary  to  clear  away  the  rubbifh  of  errors,  into  which 
the  fubie6t  of  government  has  been  thrown,  I  Ihall  proceed  to  remarlt 
on  fome  others. 

It  has  always  been  the  political  craft  of  courtiers  and  court 
governments,  to  abufe  fomething  which  they  called  repubhcanifm  ; 
but  what  repubhcanifm  was,  or  is,  they  never  attempt  to  explain. 
Let  us  examine  a  little  into  this  cafe. 

The  only  forms  of  government  are,  the  democratical,  the  ariifo- 
cratical,   the  monarchical,   and  what  is  now  called  the  reprefentative. 

What  is  called  a  republic,  is  not  ^nj parttcular form  o£ government. 
It  is  wliolly  charadleriilical  of  the  purport,  matter,  cr  object  for 
which  government  ought  to  be  inflituted,  and  on  which  it  is  to  be 
employed,  res-publica,  the  public  aifairs,  or  the  public  good  f 
or,  literally  tranfiated,  the  public  thing.  It  is  a  word  of  a  good 
original,  .referring  to  what  ought  to  be  the  chara(5ier  and  bufinefs  iyi 
government  ;  and  in  this  fenfe  it  is  naturally  oppofed  to  the  word 
monarchy,  which  has  a  bafe  original  fignification.  It  means  arbitrary 
power  in  an  individual  perfon  ;  in  the  exercife  of  which,  himfelf,  and 
not  the  res-publica,   is  the  objeft. 

Every  government  that  does  not  a(5t  on  the  principle  of  a  republic, 
or  in  other  words,  that  does  not  make  the  res-pnvUca  its  whole  and 
fole  obje(51,  is  not  a  good  government.  Republican  government  is 
no  other  than  government  eflablifhed  and  conduced  for  the  intereft 
of  the  public,  as  well  individually  as  colled>ively.  It  is  not  necef^ 
fariiy  conneded  with  any  particular  form,  but  it  mod:  naturally 
affociates  wich  the  reprefentative  form,  as  being  beft  calculated  td 
fecure  the  end  for  which  a  nation  is  at  the  expence  of  fupporting  it. 

Various  forms  of  government  have  affeded  to  flylc  themfelves  1 
republic.  Poland  calls  itfelf  a  republic,  which  is  an  hereditary 
ariftocracy,  with  what  is  called  an  ele(51ive  monarchy.  Holland  calls 
itfelf  a  republic,  v/hich  is  chiefly  ariflocratical,  with  an  hereditary 
lladtholderfliip.  But  the  government  of  America,  which  is  wholly 
on  the  fyftem  of  reprefentation,  is  the  only  real  republic  in  character 
and  in  prac'lice,  that  now  exifts.  Its  government  has  no  other  obje<a 
than  the  pubhc  bafmefs  of  the  nation,  and  therefore  it  is  properly  a 
republic  ;  and  the  Americans  have  taken  care  that  this,  and  no 
other,  Ihall  always  be  the  object  of  their  government,  by  their  rejeil- 
ing  every  thing  hereditary,  and  eftablifliing  government  on  the  fyfteitt 
of  reprefentation  only. 

Thofe  who  have  faid  that  a  republic  is  not  a  form  of  government 
calculated  for  countries  of  great  extent,  midook,   in  the  firft  place. 


i66  P  A  INE's    WO  R  KS. 

the  iujiriffs  of  a  government,  for  2.  form  of  government ;  for  the  ;yj- 
puhlica  eq^ually  appertains  to  every  extent  oi  territory  and  population. 
And,  in  the  iecond  place,  if  they  meant  any  thing  with  refped  to 
form,  it  was  the  hmple  democratical  form  fach  as  was  the  mode  of 
government  in  the  ancient  democracies,  in  which  there  was  no 
reprefentation.  The  cale,  therefore,  is  not,  that  a  republic  cannot 
be  extenfive,  but  tl:at  it  cannot  be  extenlive  on  the  fimple  demo- 
cratical form  ;  and  the  queftion  naturally  prefents  itfelf.  What  is  the 
heji  form  of  government  for  conducing  the  res-public  A  or  the  public 
BUSINESS  of  a  nation,  after  it  becomes  too  extenjive  and  populous  for 
the  Jiinple  democratical  form  P 

It  cannot  be  monarchy,  becaufc  monarchy  is  fubje<5l  to  an  objedion 
of  the  fame  amount  to  which  the  fimple  democratical  form  was  fubjedl. 

It  is  pcffible  that  an  individual  may  lay  down  a  fyflem  of  principles, 
on  which  government  Ihall  be  conflituticnally  eftabliflied  to  any  extent 
of  territory.  This  is  no  more  than  an  operation  of  the  mind,  aeimg 
by  its  own  powers.  But  the  pradice  upon  thofe  principles,  as 
applying  to  the  various  and  numerous  circumltances  of  a  nation,  its 
agriculture,  manufadure,  trade,  commerce,  &c.  &c.  require  a 
knowledge,  of  a  different  kind,  and  which  can  be  had  ciily  irom 
the  various  parts  of  fociety.  It  is  an  afl'embiage  of  pradical  know- 
ledge, which  no  one  individual  can  pofTefs  ;  and  therefore  the 
monarchical  form  is  as  much  limited,  in  ufcful  pradice,  from  the 
incompetency  of  knowledge,  as  was  the  democratical  forni,  from 
the  multiplicity  of  population.  The  one  degenerates,  by  extenfion, 
into  confufion  ;  the  other,  into  ignorance  and  incapacity,  of  which 
all  the  great  monarchies  are  an  evidence.  The  monarchical  form, 
therefore,  could  not  be  a  fublHtute  for  the  democratical,  becaufe  it 
has  equal  inconveniences. 

Much  lefs  could  it  when  made  heredhary.  This  is  the  mod 
efFedual  of  all  forms  to  preclude  knowledge.  Neither  could  the 
high  democratical  mind  have  voluntarily  yielded  itfelf  to  be  governed 
by  children  and  idiots,  and  all  the  motly  infigniflcancc  of  charader, 
v/hich  attends  fuch  a  mere  animal-fyftem,  the  difgrace  and  the 
reproach  of  reafon  and  of  man. 

As  to  the  ariftocratical  form,  it  has  the  fame  vices  and  defeds  with 
the  monarchical,  except  that  the  chance  of  abilities  is  better  from 
the  proportion  of  numbers,  but  there  is  (till  no  fecurity  for  the  right 
ufe  and  appHcation  of  them.* 

*  For  a  chara&er  of  arijlocracy,  the  reader  is  referred  to  Rights  of 
Man,  Part  I.  p,  74,  et  feq. 


RIGHTS     OF    MAN.  167 

Referring,  then,  to  the  original  fimple  democracy,  it  affords  the 
true  data  from  which  government  on  a  large  fcale  can  begin.  It  is 
incapable  of  extenfion,  not  from  its  principle,  but  from  the  inconve- 
nience of  its  form  ;  and  monarchy  and  ariftocracy,  from  their  inca- 
pacity. Retaining,  then,  democracy  as  the  ground,  and  rejeding 
the  corrupt  fyflems  of  monarchy  and  aridocracy,  the  reprefentativc 
fyftem  naturally  prefents  itfelf ;  remedying  at  once  the  defsifts  of  the 
fimple  democracy  as  to  form,  and  the  incapacity  of  the  other  two 
with  refpeft  to  knowledge. 

Simple  democracy  was  fociety  governing  itfelf  without  the  aid  of 
fecondary  means.  By  ingrafting  reprefentaiion  upon  democracy,  wc 
arrive  at  a  fyftem  of  government  capable  of  embracing  and  confede- 
rating all  the  various  interefts  and  every  extent  of  territory  and  popu- 
lation ;  and  that  alfo  with  advantages  as  much  fuperior  to  hereditary 
government,  as  the  republic  of  letters  is  to  hereditary  literature. 

It  is  on  this  fyftem  that  the  American  government  is  founded.  It 
is  reprefentation  ingrafted  upon  democracy.  It  has  fixed  the  form 
by  a  fcale  parallel  in  all  cafes  to  the  extent  of  the  principle.  What 
Athens  was  in  miniature,  America  will  be  in  magnitude.  The  one 
was  the  wonder  of  the  ancient  world ;  the  other  is  becoming  the 
admiration  and  model  of  the  prefent.  It  is  the  eafielt  of  all 
the  forms  of  government  to  be  underflood,  and  the  mod:  eligible  in 
pradice  ;  and  excludes  at  once  the  ignorance  and  infecurity  of  the 
hereditary  mode,  and  the  inconvenience  of  the  fimple  democracy. 

It  is  impoffible  to  conceive  a  fyftem  of  government  capable  of  acting 
over  fuch  an  extent  of  territory,  and  fuch  a  circle  of  intereds,  as  is 
immediately  produced  by  the  operation  of  reprefentation.  France, 
great  and  populous  as  it  is,  is  but  a  fpot  in  the  capacioufnefs  of  the 
fyftem.  It  adapts  itfelf  to  all  poiTible  cafes.  It  is  preferable  to 
fimple  democracy  even  in  fmall  territories.  Athens,  by  renre- 
fentation,  would  have  outrivalled  her  own  democracy. 

That  which  is  called  government,  or  rather  that  which  we  ou^ht 
to  conceive  government  to  be,  is  no  more  than  fome  common  centre, 
in  which  all  the  parts  of  fociety  unite.  This  cannot  be  eiftabliftied  by 
auy  method  fo  conducive  to  the  various  interefts  of  the  community, 
as  by  the  reprefentativc  fyftem.  It  concentrates  the  knowledge  necef- 
fary  to  the  interefts  of  the  parts,  and  of  the  whole.  It  places  govern- 
ment in  a  ftate  of  conftant  maturity.  It  is,  as  has  been  already 
obferved,  never  young,  never  old.  It  is  fubjefl  neither  to  nonage, 
nor  dotage.     It  is  never  in  the  cradle,  nor  on  crutches.     It  admits 


168  P  A  I  N  E  '  s    W  O  R  K  S. 

not  of  a  feparation  between  knowledge  and  pov/er,  and  is  fuperlor^ 
3S  government  always  ought  to  be,  to  all  the  accidents  of  individual 
man,  and  is  therefore  fuperior  to  what  is  called  monarchv. 

A  nation  is  not  a  body,  the  figure  of  which  is  to  be  represented 
by  the  human  body  ;  but  is  like  a  body  contained  within  a  circle, 
having  a  common  centre,  in  which  every  radius  meet^ ;  and  that 
centre  is  formed  by  reprefentation.  To^conne6l  reprefentation  with 
what  is  called  monarchy,  is  eccentric  government.  Reprefentation 
is  of  itfelf  the  delegated  monarchy  of  a  nation,  and,  cannot  debafe 
itfelf  by  dividing  it  with  another. 

Mr.  Burke  has  two  or  three  times  in  his  parHamentary  fpeeches, 
and  in  his  publications,  made  ufe  of  a  jingle  of  words  that  convey  no 
ideas.  Speaking  of  government,  he  fays,  "  It  is  better  to  have 
"  monarchy  for  its  bafis,  and  republicanifm  for  its  corrective,  than 
**  republicanifm  for  its  baiis,  and  monarchy  for  its  corrective." — If 
he  means  that  it  is  better  to  correct  folly  with  wifdom,  than  wifdom 
■with  folly,  I  will  no  otherwife  contend  with  him,  than  that  it  would 
be  much  better  to  rejedt  the  folly  entirely. 

But  what  is  this  thing  which  Mr.  Burke  calls  monarchy?  Will  he 
explain  it  ?  All  men  can  underftand  what  reprefentation  is  ;  and  that 
it  muft  neceflarily  include  a  variety  of  knowledge  and  talents.  But 
what  fecurity  is  there  for  the  fame  qualities  on  the  part  of  monarchy^ 
or,  when  this  monarchy  is  a  child,  where  then  is  the  wifdom  ? 
What  does  it  know  about  government  ?  Who  then  is  the  monarch, 
or  where  is  the  monarchy  ?  If  it  is  to  be  performed  by  regency,  it 
proves  it  to  be  a  farce.  A  regency  is  a  mock  fpecies  of  republic, 
and  the  whole  of  monarchy  deferves  no  better  defcription.  It  is  a 
thing  as  various  as  imagination  can  paint.  It  has  none  of  the  flable 
charader  that  government  ought  to  pofiefs.  Every  fucceflion  is  a 
revolution,  and  every  regency  a  counter-revolution.  The  whole  of 
it  is  a  fcene  of  perpetual  court  cabal  and  intrigue,  of  which  Mr.  Burke 
is  himfelf  an  inflance.  To  render  monarchy  confident  with  govern- 
ment, the  next  in  fuccellion  fhould  not  be  born  a  child,  but  a  man  at 
once,  and  that  man  a  Solomon.  It  is  ridiculous  that  nations  are  to 
wait,  and  government  be  interrupted,  till  boys  grow  to  be  men. 

Whether  I  have  too  little  fenfe  to  fee,  or  too  much  to  be  impofed 
upon  ;  whether  I  have  too  much  or  too  little  pride,  or  of  any  thing 
elfe,  I  leave  out  of  the  queftion ;  but  certain  it  is,  that  what  is 
called  monarchy,  aiv/ays  appears  to  me  a  filly  contemptible  thing.  I 
compare  it  to  foraething  kept  behind  a  curtain,  about  which  there  is 


R  I  GHTS     OF    MAN-  1C9 


.^t*:. 


a  great  deal  of  buille  and  fufs  and  a  wonderful  afr  of  feeming  fo- 
kmiiity;  but  when,  by  any  accident,  the  curtain  happens  to  be  opea 
and  the  company  fee  what  it  is,  they  burfl  into  laughtef. 

In  the  reprefentative  fyftem  of  government,  nothing  of  this  can 
happen.  Like  the  nation  itfelf,  it  pofieffes  a  perpetual  flamina,  as 
well  of  body  as  of  mind,  and  prefents  itfelf  on  the  open  theatre  of 
the  world  in  a  fair  and  manly  manner.  Whatever  are  its  exccHen- 
cles  or  its  defects,  they  are  vifible  to  ail.  It  exifts  not  by  fraud  and 
inyftery;  it  deals  not  in  cant  and  fophiflry;  but  infpires  a  language, 
that,  palling  from  heart  to  heart,  is,  fJt  and  underftood. 

We  muft  fliut  our  eyes  againft  reafon,  we  mull  baftly  degrade  oUr 
iinderftanding,  not  to  fee  the  folly  of  what  is  called  monarchy. 
Nature  Is  orderly  in  all  her  works;  but  this  is  a  mode  of  government 
that  counteracts  nature.  It  turns  the  progrefs  of  the  human  facul-« 
ties  upfide  down.  It  fubje£ls  age  to  be  governed  by  children,  and 
wifdom  by  folly. 

On  the  contrary,  the  reprefentative  fydem  is  always  parallel  with 
the  order  and  immutable  laws  of  nature,  and  meets  the  reafon  of  man 
in  every  part.     For  example  : 

In  the  American  federal  government,  more  power  is  delegated  to 
the  preiident  of  the  United  States,  than  to  any  cthef  individual  meni- 
ber  of  congrefs.  He  cannot,  therefore,  be  elefted  to  this  cilice  un- 
der the  age  of  thirty-hve  years.  By  this  time  the  judgment  of  maa 
becomes  matured,  and  he  has  lived  long  enough  to  be  acquainted 
with  men  and  things,  and  the  country  with  him.  But  on  the  mo-- 
narcliical  plan  (exclufive  of  the  numerous  chances  there  are  againft 
every  man  born  into  the  world,  of  drawing  a  prize  in  the  lottery  of 
human  faculties),  the  next  in  fucceflioh,  whatever  he  may  be,  is  put 
at  the  head  of  a  nation^  and  of  a  government,  at  the  age  of  eighteen 
years.  Does  this  appear  like  an  aft  of  wifdom?  Is  it  confident  with 
the  proper  dignity  and  the  manly  charader  of  a  nation  ?  Where  is 
the  propriety  of  calling  fuch  a  lad  the  father  of  the  people?— In  all 
bther  cafes,  a  perfon  is  a  minor  until  the  age  of  twenty-one  years. 
Before  this  period,  he  is  not  trufted  with  the  management  of  an  acre 
of  land,  or  with  the  heritable  property  of  a  flock  of  fhecp,  or  an  herd 
of  fwine  ;  but,  wonderful  to  tell !  he  may,  at  the  age  of  eighteen 
years,  be  trufted  with  a  nation. 

That  monarchy  is  all  a  bubble,    a  mere  court  artifice  to  procure 

money,  isevident   (at  leaft  to  me),  in  every  chara£ler  in  which  it  can 

be  viewed.      It  would  be  impoifible,  on  the  rational  fyftem  of  repre- 

Xentative  government,  to  make  out  a  bill  of  expences  to  fuch  an  enor* 

Vol.  II,  ^ 


t1^  PAINE's    WORKS. 

"ftjous  amount  as  this  deception  admits.  Government  :s  not  of  itfcir 
a  very  chargeable  inftitiition.  The  whole  expence  of  the  federal 
government  «f  America,  founded,  as  I  have  already  faid,  on  the  fyf" 
tcn-^of  reprefentarfon,  and  extending  over  a  country  nearly  ten  times 
as  large  as  England,  is  but  fix  hundred  thoufand  dollars,  or  one 
hundred  and  thirty-five  thoufand  pounds  fcerling, 

I  prefume,  that  no  man  in  his  fober  fenfes  will  compare  the  cha- 
racter of  any  of  the  kings  of  Europe,  with  that  of  General  Wafliing- 
ton.  Yet,  in  France,  and  alfo  in  EnglarKl,  the  expence  of  the  civil 
lift  only,  for  the  fupport  of  one  man,  is  eight  times  greater  than  the 
v/hole  expence  of  the  federal  government  in  America.  To  aflign  a 
feafon  for  this,  appears  alm.oil  impofable.  The  generality  of  people 
in  America,  efpecially  the  poor,  are  more  able  to  pay  taxes,  than 
the  genc:-aiity  of  people  either  in  France  or  England. 

But  the  cafe  is,  that  the  reprefcntative  fyftem  diftufes  fuch  a  bodj 
of  knov.'ledge  tiiroughcut  a  nation,  on  the  fubje6t  of  gcvernmenty 
as  to  explode  ignorance  and  preclude  im.pofition  The  craft  oi 
courts  cannot  be  auted  on  that  grour.d.  There  is  no  place  for  m.yf- 
tcry ;  no  where  for  it  to  be  begin.  Thofe  v/ho  are  not  in  the  repre- 
fentation,  knov\-  ??s.  p'uch  of  the  na'-ure  of  bufmefs  as  thofe  who  are. 
An  'dfffc'ftation  of  mys'terious  im.portance  would  tliere  be  fcouted. 
Nations  can  lisve  no  fecrets;  -^rd  the  fecrets  of  c-curts,  like  thoie  of 
individuals,  are  always  ihtir  defects. 

In  the  reprefentative  fyllem,  the  feafcn  for  every  thing  m>uft  pub- 
licly appear.  Every  man  is  a  proprietor  in  government,  and  con* 
fiders  "it  a  neceflary  part  of  his  bufiaefs  to  underftand.  It  conccrns- 
his  intereft,  becaufe  it  affefts  his  property.  He  examines  the  ccft, 
Sand  compires  it  with  the  advantages  ;  and  above  all,  he  does  not 
adopt  the  fiavifh  cuftom  of  following  what  in  ether  governments  are, 
called  LFADfRS. 

It  can  only  be  by  blinding  the  imderrrar.dlng  of  man,  and  miaking. 
"him  believe  that  government  is  fome  wonderful  myfterious  thing,  that 
excefiive  revenues  are  obtained.  Monarchy  is  well  ca-culatcd  to 
enfure  this  end.  It  is  the  popery  of  government;  a  thing  kept  up 
to  amufe  the  ignorant,  and  quiet  them  into  taxes. 
•'-The  government  of  a  free  country,  properly  fpeaking,  is  not  m 
the  perfons,  but  in  the  laws.  The  ena6ling  of  thofe  requires  no^ 
great  expgnce  ;  and  when  they  are  adminiilered,  the  whole  of  civlj. 
n-ovcrnrr.ent  is  performed — the  rell  is  all  coart  coiitrivacce. 


RIGHTS     a  F    M  A  K  17^. 

C  H  A  P.     IV. 
ON  CONSTITUTIONS. 

•*•  HAT  men  mean  diftind  and  fc?pnrate  things  when  they  (p"^ 
of  conflitutions  and  of  governmenrs,  is  evident  ;  cr,  wliy  arc  theft? 
terms  didlndly  and  feparately  ufed?  A  conflitution  is  not  the  a6l  of 
a  government,  but  of  a  people  coiiflituting  a  government  ;  and  go- 
vernment without  a  conllitution,  is  power  witliout  a  right. 

All  power  exerciied  over  a  nation,  mujR:  have  fomc  beginning.  It 
^uft  be  either  delegated,  or  alTumed.  There  are  no  other  fources. 
All  delegated  powe  is  trail,  and  all  afTumed  power  is  ufurnation. 
Time  does  not  alter  the  nature  and  quality  of  either. 

In  viewing  this  fubjeifl;,  the  cafe  and  circumdances  of  America 
prefent  themfelves  as  in  the  beginning  of  a  world  ;  and  our  enr^uiry 
into  the  origin  of  government  is.  (Iiortened,  by  ref^^n-ing  to  the  Fifls 
that  have  arifen  in  our  own  day.  We  have,  no  occallon  to  roam  for  in- 
formation into  theobfcuue  Rcldof  antiquity,  nor  hazard  ourfclves  upon 
.conje<5lure.  V/e  are  brought  at  once  to  the  point  of  feeing  govern- 
ment bc'^in,  as  if  we  had  lived  in  the  be^rinninr  of'  time.  The  real 
volume,  not  of  hiiloiy,  but  of  faAs,  is  direilly  before  us,  unmuti- 
latcd  by  contrivance,   or  the  errors  of  tradition. 

I  will  here  concIiVly  flate  the  commencement  of  the  American 
conftitutions  ;  by  v/aich  the  difference  between  coralitulions  and  go- 
vernments will  fufHciently  appear. 

It  may  not  be  improper  to  remind  the  reader,  that  the  United 
States  of  America  confift  of  thirteen  feparate  ftates,  each  of  whicK 
eftablidied  a  government  far  ilfdf,  after  the  declaration  of  indepen- 
dence, done  the  fourth  of  July  1776.  Each  (late  a£ted  indepen- 
dently of  the  reft,  in  forming  its  government;  but  the  fame  gci>eral 
principle  pervades  the  wliole.  V/hen  the  feveral  ftate  governments 
were  formed,  they  proceeded  to  form  the  federal  government,  tliat 
a£ls  over  the  whole  in  all  matters  which  concern  the  intereft  of  the 
whole,  or  which  relate  to  the  intercourfe  of  the  feveral  ftates  with 
each  other,  or  with  foreign  nations.  I  will  begin  with  giving  an  in- 
ftance  from  one  of  the  ftate  governments  (that  of  Pennfrlvaniaj,  and 
then  proceed  to  the  federal  government. 

The  ftate  of  Pennfylvania,  though  nearly  of  the  fame  extent  of  terri.- 
tory  as  England,  was  then  divided  into  only  twelve  counties.  Each  of 
thofe  counties  had  eledled  a  ccramittee  at  the  commencement  of  the 
difpute  with  the  Englifti  gcvcrn:iient  ^  and  as  the  city  of  Philadelphia, 


17^  ?  A  I  N  £  *  s     W  O  R  K  S, 

which  alfo  had  its  committee,  was  the  moft  central  for  intelligence,  it- 
became  the  centre  of  communication  to  the  feveral  county  commit- 
tees. When  :t  became  necefiary  to  procsed  to  the  formation  of  a 
government,  the  committee  of  Philadelphia  propofed  a  conference  of 
zVi  the  county  commit t^ie?,  to  be  held  in  that  city,  and  which  met 
the  latter  end  of  July  1776. 

Thougli  thefe  committees  had  been  elected  by  the  people,  they 
were  not  elected  expi'efsly  for  the  purpofe,  nor  invefted  with  thje 
authority  of  forming  a  Conflitutron  ;  and  as  they  could  not,  confift- 
cntly  with  the  American  id-a  of  rights,  affame  fuch  a  power,  they 
e'oiild  only  confer  upon  th;  matter,  and  pnt  it  into  a  train  of  opera- 
tion. The  conferees^  therefcrc,  did  no  more  than  ftate  the  cafe, 
and  r£com>mend  to  the  feveral  counties  to  eleft  fix  reprcfcntativeg^ 
for  ^ach  county,  to  meft  in  convention  at  Philadelphia,  with  powers 
to  form  a  conllitution,   and  tv.-obofe  it  for  uxiblic  confideratioru 

ihis  convention,  of  vvhich  Benjamiil  Franklin  was  prefidfnt,  hav- 
ing niet  and  deliberated,   and  agreed  upon  a  conftitution,  they  next 
ordered  it  to  be  publiihed,-  net  as  a  thing  eitablifntd,  but  for  the  eon- 
lideratioft  of  tlie  Vyhble  people,   their  approbation  or  rejeSion,    and 
then  adjourned  to  a  ftared  time.     When  the  time  of  adjournment 
wan  expired,  the  cor^vtiitioti  re-anembled  ;  and  as  the  general  opinion 
of  the  people  in  approbation  of  it  was  then  known,  the  conftitutioil 
was  figned,   fealed,   and  proclaimed  on  the    auihcrlty  of  the  people^ 
and  the  original  fiiftrumerit  depcfited  as  a  pubh'c  record.     The  con- 
vention then  appointed  a  day  for  the  geneiT.1  ekclion   of  the  reprcr 
lentatiyeG  v.ho  were  to   conipofe  the  goveriiment,   ^nd   the  time   it 
mbiild  commence;  and  having  done  this,  they  diffolved,  and  returned 
to  their  feveral  homes  and  occupations. 

In  this  conflitution  were  laid  down,  firft  a  declaration  of  rights, 
X  hen  followed  the  form  which  the  government  ihoiild  have,  and  thq 
powers  it  fnould  poiTefs" — the  authority  of  the  courts  of  judicature, 
and  of  juries — the  m.anner  in  which  cleQions  iliould  be  conduced, 
^nd  the  proportron  of  reprefentatives  to  the  number  of  eleftors — the 
time  which  each  fuccecding  allembly  Ihould  continue,  which  was  one 
year — the  mode  of  levying,  and  of  accounting  for  the  expenditure, 
of  pubhc  money — of  appointing  public  officers,    &c.  &c.  &c. 

No  article  of  this  conditution  could  be  altered  or  infringed  at  the 
diicretion  of  the  government  that  was  to  enfuc.  !t  was  to  that 
government  a  law.  But  as  it  would  have  been  unwife  to  preclude 
the  benefit  of  experience,  and  in  order  alfo  to  prevent  the  accumu- 
lation of  errors,  \i  any  fhouid  be  found,  and  to  preferve  an  unifon  of 


RIGHTS     OF    MAN.  17^ 

government  with  the  circiimfcances  of  the  ftatc  at  all  tinies;  the  con- 
ftkutio-a  provided,  thjjt.  at  the  expiration  of  every  feven  years,  a  con- 
tention fhould  be  elected  ;  for  the  exprefs  purpofe  of  reviiing  the  con- 
ftitution,  and  making  alterations,  auditions,  or  abolitions  therein,  if 
any  fuch  faould  be  fo'Jnd  necefTary. 

Here  we  fee  a  regular  procels — a  government  iiTiiing  cut  of  3 
coaftitution,  formed  by  the  people  in  their  original  charafter  ;  and 
that  conllitution,  ferving,  not  only  as  an  auihovity,  but  as  a  lav."  of 
control  to  the  gov^ernr^cnt.  It  v/aa  the  political  bPale  of  the  flate. 
Scarcely  a  family  was  without  it.  Every  member  of  the  govern- 
ment had  a  copy;  and  nothing  was  more  common,  when  any  debate 
arofe  on  the  principle  of  a  bill,  or  on  the  extent  of  any  fpecies  of 
authority,  than  for  the  members  to  take  the  printed  conllitution  out 
of  their  pocket,  and  read  the  chapter  with  v^^hich  fuch  matter  in  de- 
bate was  conne£l:ed. 

Having  thus  given  an  inilancc  from  one  of  the  fcates,  I  will  {new 
the  proceedings  by  which  the  federal  conllitution  of  the  United  States 
arofe  and  was  formed. 

Congrefs,  at  its  two  firfc  meetings,  in  September  17741  and  May 
1775,  was  nothing  more  than  a  deputation  from  the  legifiatures  of 
the  feveral  provinces,  afterwards  Hates ;  and  had  no  other  authority 
than  what  arofe  from  common  confent,  and  the  necefiity  of  its  acting 
as  a  public  body.  In  every  thing  which  related  to  the  internal  af- 
fairs of  America,  conp-refs  went  no  further  than  to  iffue  recommenda- 
tion  to  the  feveral  provincial  affemblies,  who  at  difcretion  adopted 
them  or  not.  Nothing  on  the  part  of  congrefs  was  compulfive  ;  yet, 
in  this  lituation,  is  v/as  m.ore  faithfully  and  aireftionately  obeyed, 
than  was  any  government  in  Europe.  This  inftance,  like  that  of  the 
, national  afTembly  of  France,  fufHciently  fnews,  tliat  the  ftrength  of 
government  does  not  confift  in  any  thing  '•juUhin  -itfelf,  but  in  the  at- 
tachm.ent  of  a  nation,  and  the  intereil  which  the  people  feel  in  fup- 
porting  it.  When  this  is  lofl,  government  is  but  a  child  in  povver; 
and  though,  like  the  old  government  of  France,  it  may  harafs  indivi- 
duals for  a  while,  it  but  facilitates  its  own  fall. 

After  the  declaration  of  independence,  it  became  conauent  with 
the  principle  on  which  repref^ntative  governm.ent  is  founded,  that 
the  authority  of  congrefs  fnould  be  defined  and  eftabliHied.  Whe- 
ther that  authority  fnould  be  m.ore  or  lefs  than  congrefs  then  oifcrc- 
tionally  cxercifed,  was  not  the  quie{tion.  It  was  nierely  the  redtitude 
of  the  meafure. 

For  this  purpofe  the   ai^,  called  the  aa  of  confederation   (which 


174  P  A  I  N  E  's     WORKS. 

was  a  fort  of  imperfeci:  federal  conftitution)  was  propofed  and,  aftcit 
long  deliberation,  was  concluded  in  the  year  1781.  It  was  not  the 
aifl  of  congrefs,  becaufe  it  is  repugnant  to  the  princ'ples  of  reprefcnta-- 
tive  government  that  a  body  (hould  give  power  to  itfelF.  Congrefs 
firfl;  informed  the  feveral  ftates,  of  the  powers  which  it  conceived 
were  nece.Tary  to  be  inveiled  in  the  union,  to  enable  it  to  p.rfo^m  the 
duties  and  fervices  required  from  it  ;  and  the  ftates  feverally  agreed 
with  each  other,  and  concentrated  in  congrefs  thofe  povi^ers. 

It  may  not  be  improper  to  cbferve,  that  in  both  thofe  inftancegr 
(the  one  of  Pennfylvania,  and  the  other  of  the  United  States)  there 
is  no  fuch  thing  as  the  idea  of  a  compaft  between  the  people  on  o:ie 
fide,  and  the  governmcrit  on  the  other.  1  he  c.:)rripaft  was  that  of  the 
people  with  each  other,  to  produce  and  conflitute  a  government.  To 
fuppofe  that  any  government  can  be  a  party  in  a  compact  v/ith  ths 
whole  people,  is  to  fuppofe  it  to  have  exigence  before  it  can  h:ive  a 
right  to  exiffc.  The  only  infeunce  in  which  a  compact  can  take  place 
between  the  people  and  thofe  who  exercife  the  government,  is,  that 
the  people  ihr.H  pay  them,  while  they  choofe  to  err:p]<^y  them. 

Govcrnm.ent  is  not  a  trade  which  any  man  or  body  cf  men  has  a 
right  to  fet  up  and  exercii'e  for  his  own  emclumeat,  but  is  altogether 
n  truft,  in  right  of  thofe  by  whom,  that  trull  is  delegated,  and  by 
whom  it  is  always  refumable.  It  has  of  itfelf  no  rights  ;  they  are 
altosfether  duties. 

Kavinp"  thus  fiven  two  inftances  of  the  orifiinal  form.at'on  of  a 
conftitution,  I  v/ill  (new  tht  manner  in  which  both  have  beeii 
chano-ed  fince  their  tirft  ellablilhrnent. 

The  powers  vefted  in  the  govenuTients  of  the  feveral  ftates,  by  the 
ftate  conftituticns,  were  fousd,  upon  experience,  to  be  too  great  ; 
?ind  thofe  vefted  in  the  federal  government,  by  the  aft  of  conf^de'-a* 
tion,  too  little.  The  deivol  v,-as  not  in  the  principle,  but  in  the 
diftribution  of  power. 

Numerous  publications,  in  pamphlets  and  in  the  newfpapers,  ap- 
peared on  the  propriety  and  neceftity  of  new  mode'ling  the  federal 
government.  After  fome  time  of  pubh'c  difcuftion,  carried  on 
through  the  channel  of  the  preft:,  and  in  converfalions,  the  ftate  of 
Vir"'inia,  experiencing  fome  inconvenience  with  relpeft  to  ccm.- 
merce,  propofed  holding  a  continental  conference  ;  in  confequenct  of 
which  a  deputation  from  ftve  or  fix  cf  the  ftate  aften.blies  ir.el  at 
Annapolis  in  Maryland,  in  J786.  This  meeting,  not  conceiving  itfelf 
fuiiiciently  authorifed  to  go  into  the  bufincfs  of  a  reform,  did  no  more 
tlian  ftate  their  general  opinions  cf  the  propriety  of  the  m^afure,  iind 


RIGHTS     OF    MAN.  175 

recommend  that  a  convention  of  all  the  ilates  fhould  be  held  the  year 
iblK/vvfng. 

This  convention  met  at  Philadelphia,  in  May  17S7,  of  v^'hich  ge- 
nernl  Walhington  was  eledled  prefident.  He  was  not  at  that  time 
Coane6led  with  any  of  the  ftate  g-overnments,  or  with  congrefs.  He 
delivered  up  his  commiiHon  when  the  war  ended,  and  iiace  then  had 
lived  a  pvivatc  citizen. 

The.  convention  went  deeply  into  ail  the  fubjefts  ;  and  having, 
after  a  variety  of  debate  and  invefligation,  agreed  among  thsmfelves 
upon  the  feveral  parts  of  a  federal  conftitution,  the  next  queftion  was, 
the  manner  of  giving  it  authority  and  pradlice. 

For  this  purpofe,  they  did  not,  like  a  cab;d  of  courtiers,  fi^nd  for  a 
Dutch  ft'jdtholder,  or  a  German  eleftor  ;  but  they  referred  the 
-vsrhole  matter  to  the  fenfe  and  interell  of  the  country. 

They  firfl  directed,  that  the  propofed  conftitution  faouid  be  pub- 
iiflied.  Secondly,  that  each  ilate  flionld  ele6t  a  convention,  exprefsly 
.for  the  purpofe  of  taking  it  into  conllderation,  and  of  ratifying  or 
rejedling  it :  And  that  as  foon  as  the  approbation  and  ratincation 
of  any  nine  Hates  fliould  be  given,  that  thofe  Hates  fliould  proceed  to 
the  ele^lion  of  their  proportion  of  members  to  the  new  federal  go- 
vernment'; and  that  the  operation  of  it  fliould  then  begin,  and  the 
former  fedei^al  govern m.ent  ceafe. 

The  feveral.ftatcs  proceeded  accordingly  to  eleft  their  conventions, 
fome  of  thofe  conventions  ratified  the  conftituticn  by  veiy  larfje  ma- 
jorities, and  two  or  three  unanimoufly.  In  others,  there  were  much 
debate  and  divifion  of  opinion.  In  the  MafTachufetts  convention, 
which  met  at  Bofton,  the  m.ijority  was  not  above  nineteen  or  tv/enty, 
in  about  three  Iiundred  m.embers  ;  but  fnch  is  the  nature  of  reprefen- 
tativc  government,  that  it  quiet;y  decides  all  matters  by  majority. 
After  the  debate  in  the  MafTachufetts  convention  was  clofed,  and  the 
ToLe  taken,  the  objefting  members  rofe,  and  declared,  "  T/jal  thouglj 
■*  they  bad  argued  and  'voted  againji  /*,  lecaufe  cerlaiu  parls  appeared  to 
.**  'hem  in  a  different  light  io  'ujhat  they  appeared  to  oihcr  mtvilers ;  ysf, 
"  as  tJ}€  vote  had  decided  in  favour  of  the  conjtitution  as  prop  fed,  they 
*^jhouid  give  it  the  fam:  pra3ical  fupport  as  if  they  had  v/.cd  for  it.'* 

A3  foon  as  nine  ftates  had  concurred  \  and  tlie  reft  folic  wed  in  the 
order  their  conventions  were  elcv^cd),  the  old  fa'.jric  of  the  federal 
government  was  taken  down,  and  a  new  one  elcc'^ed,  of  which  Ge- 
neral Wafhington  is  prefident. — In  this  place  I  cannot  help  remark- 
inT,  that  the  chnracler  and  ferv'ccs  of  this  gentleman  are  fufficient  to 
sut  all  thafe  men  called  kings  to  fliaine.     While  they  arc  receiving 


176  PAINE's    WOilKS. 

from  the  A'/cat  and  labours  of  mankind,  a  prodigality  of  pay*  t6 
which  neither  their  abilities  nsr  their  fcrviccs  can  entitle  them,  he  is 
rendering  every  fervice  in  his  power,  and  refiifing  every  pecuniary 
reward.  He  accepted  no  pay  as  commander  in  chief;  he  accepts 
hone  as  prf-fident  of  the  United  States. 

After  the  new  federal  conllitutiGn  was  eftablifhed,  the  ftate  of 
Pennfy:v2nia,  conceiving  that  fome  parts  of  its  own  conftitution  re- 
quired to  be  altered,  ekded  a  convention  for  that  purpofe.  The 
propofed  alterations  were  publifhed,  and  the  people  concurring  there- 
in, they  were  eftablifhed. 

In  forming  thofe  conflitutions,  or  in  altering  them,  little  or  no  in- 
convenience took  place.  The  ordiriary  courfe  of  things  was  not  in- 
terrupted, ctnd  the  advantages  have  been  much.  It  is  always  the  in- 
tereft  of  a  far  greater  number  of  people  in  a  nation  to  have  thmgs 
right,  than  to  let  them  remain  wrong  ;  and  when  public  matters  are 
open  to  debate,  and  the  public  judgment  free,  it  will  not  decide 
wrong,  unlefs  it  decides  too  haftily. 

In  the  two  inilancesof  changing  the  conftltutions,  the  government 
then  in  being  were  not  a6i;ors  cither  way.  Government  has  no  right 
to  make  itfelf  a  party  in  any  debate  refpe<fling  the  principles  or  modes 
of  form/incf,  or  of  chanc^inf  conftitutions.  It  is  not  for  the  benefit 
cf  thofe  wlio  exercife  the  powers  of  government,  that  conftitutions, 
and  the  w-overnments  iffuing  from  them,  arc  eftablidied.  In  all  thofe 
matters,  the  right  of  judging  and  acling  are  in  thofe  who  pay,  and 
not  in. thofe  who  receive. 

A  conftitution  is  the  property  of  a  nation,  and  not  cf  thofe  who 
exercife  the  government.  All  the  conftitutions  of  America  are  de- 
clared to  be  eftabliflied  on  the  authority  of  the  people.  In  France, 
the  word  nation  is  ufed  inftead  of  the  people  ;  but  in  both  cafes,  a 
conftituticyn  is  a  thing  antecedent  to  the  government,  and  always  dif- 
tin6l  therefrom. 

In  England,  it  is  net  difF.cult  to  perceive  tiiat  every  thing  has  a 
conftitution,  except  the  nation.  Every  fcciety  and  affociation  that 
is  eftablifhed,  f^rft  agreed  upon  a  number  of  original  articles,  digefted 
into  form,  which  are  fls  conftitution.  It  then  appointed  its  officers, 
whofe  powers  and  authorities  are  defcribed  in  that  conftitution,  and 
the  crovernment  of  that  fociety  then  commenced.  Thofe  officers,  by 
whatever  name  they  are  called,  have  no  authority  to  add  to,  alter,  ov 
abridge  the  original  anicles.  It  is  only  to  the  conftituting  power  that 
ihisrlcrht  belonp-s. 

From  the  want  of  underftanding  the  difference  between  aconftitit* 


RIGHTS    OF    MAN.  177 

lltw.  and  a  government,  Dr.  Johnfon,  and  all  writers  of  his  defcrip- 
tion,  have  always  bewildered  themfelves.  They  could  not  blit  per- 
ceive, that  there  muft  neceffarily  be  a  controlling  pov/er  exiiling  fomt- 
where,  and  they  placed  this  po'.verin  the  difcretion  of  the  perfons  ex- 
crcifing  the  government  j  inllcad  of  placing  it  in  a  conftitution  formed 
^y  the  nation.  When  it  is  in  a  conftitution,  it  has  the  nation  for  its 
fupport,  and  the  natural  and  the  political  controlling  powers  are  to- 
gether. The  laws  which  are  enafted  by  governments,  control  men 
only  as  individuals,  but  the  nation,  through  its  conftiiution,  controls 
the  whole  goveniment,  and  has  a  natural  ability  fo  to  do.  The  final 
controlling  power,  therefore,  and  the  original  conftituting  power, 
Jlre  one  and  the  fame  power. 

Dr.  Johnfon  could  not  have  advanced  fuch  a  pofition  in  any  coun- 
try where  there  was  a  conftitution  ;  and  he  is  himfelf  an  evidence,  that 
-iio  fuch  thing  as  a  conftitution  exifts  in  England — But  it  may  be  put 
gs.  a  queft^on,  not  improper  to  be  inveftigated.  That  if  a  conftitution 
4^es  not  exift,  how  came  the  idea  of  its  exiftence  fo  generally  eftab- 
lifKed? 

In  order  to  decide  this  queftion,  it  is  neccfiary  to  confider  a  confti- 
tution in  both  its  cafes: — Firft,  as  creating  a  government  and  giving 
\x.  powers.  Secondly,  as  regulating  and  reftraining  the  powers  fo 
given. 

If  we  begin  with  William  of  Normandy,  we  find  that  the  govern- 
ment of  England  was  originally  a  tyranny,  founded  on  an  invafion 
and  conqueft  of  the  country.  This  being  admitted,  it  will  then  ap- 
pear, that  the  exertion  of  the  nation,  at  different  periods,  to  abate 
that  tyranny,  and  render  it  lefs  intolerable,  has  been  credited  for  a 
conftitution. 

Magna  Charta,  as  it  was  called  (it  is  now  like  an  almanac  of  the 
fame  date,)  was  no  more  than  compelling  the  government  to  renounce 
a  pai't  of  its  aflumptions.  It  did  not  create  and  give  powers  to  go- 
vernment in  the  manner  a  conftitution  does ;  but,  was,  as  far  as  it 
went,  of  the  nature  of  a  re -conqueft,  and  not  of  a  conftitution  ;  for 
could  the  nation  have  totally  expelled  the  ufurpation,  as  France  haf 
done  its  defpotifm,  it  would  then  have  had  a  conftitution  to  form. 

The  hiftory  of  the  Edwards  and  the  Henries,  and  up  to  the  com- 
mencement of  the  Stuarts,  exhibits  as  many  inftances  of  tyranny  as 
could  ])e  afted  within  the  limits  to  which  the  nation  had  reftrifted  it. 
The  Stuarts  endeavoured  to  pafs  thofe  limits,  and  their  fate  is  well 
lf.nown.  In  all  thofe  inftances  we  fee  nothing  of  a  conftitution,  but 
only  of  reftridllons  on  affumed  power. 

Vol.  II,  A  a 


VyfiT  P  A  T  N  E  '  s    WORKS. 

After  this,  another  William,  defcended  from  the  fame  ilock,  arf^ 
claiming  from  the  f)me  orig-in,  gained  poneflion;  affd  of  the  two  evils, 
'^ames2LVid  IVuIiair,  tl  e  nation  preferred  what  it  thought  the  leaft;  fmce, 
'from  V:ht  circumftanct-s,  it  m.uit  take  one.  The  ad,  called  the  Bill  of 
■Rights,  comes  here  into  view.  What  is  it,  but  a  bargain,  which  the 
parts  of  the  government  made  with  each  other  to  divide  powers,  pro- 
fits, and  privileges  ?  You  fl-xall  have  fo  much,  and  1  v/ill  have  the  reft'; 
and  with  refpedi  to  the  nation,  it  faid,  lor yrAirJJ:nrey  YovJLall  havf 
the  r'l^ht  cfpLtttknlng,  This  being  tlie  cafe,  the  bill  of  rights  is  more 
"properly  a  bill  of  wrongs,  and  of  infult.  As  to  what  is  called  the 
"convention  parliament,  it  wss  a  thing  that  made  itfelf,  and  then  made 
the  authority  by  which  it  aded.  A  few  pcrfons  got  together,  and 
called  tliemfclves  by  that  name.  Several  of  them  had  never  beca 
cleftecl,  and  none  of  them  for  the  purpofe. 

From  the  time  of  William,  a  fpecics  of  goternment  arofe,  ifTaing 
t)"ut  of  thi^  coalition  bill  of  rights;  and  more  fo,  fince  the  corruption 
introduced  at  the  Hanover  fuccelnon,  by  the  agency  of  Walpolc  : 
That  can  be  defcribtd  by  no  other  name  than  a  defpotic  legiflatiorj. 
Though  the  parts  may  embarrafs  each  other,  the  whole  has  no 
'bounds ;  and  the  oiJv  ri^^ht  it  acknowledges  out  of  itfelf,  is  the  right, 
of  petitiening.  Where  then  Is  the  conftitutiou  either  that  gives  or 
that  reflrains  power  ? 

It  i^  not  becnufe  a  part  of  tiie  governm.ent  is  ekdive,  that  make* 
it  lefs  a   defpotifm,   if  the  perfons  fo   eledled,  pofTefs  afterwards, 
as  a  parliament,   unlimited  powers.      Eledion,   in  this  cafe,  becomes 
Teparated  from  reprefen  tat  ion,  and  the  candidates  are  candidates  for 
defpotifm. 

I  cannot  believe  that  any  nation,  reafonincr  on  Its  own  rig-htf, 
VvOuM  have  thought  of  calh'ng  thofe  things  a  ccnJlitutiGtif  if  the  cry  of 
Conilitution  had  not  been  fet  up  by  the  government.  It  has  got 
into  circulation  like  the  words  lore  and  qucz,  by  being  chalked  up  in. 
the  fpeeches  of  parliament,  as  thofe  words  were  on  window  fliutters 
and  door  pods  ;  but  whatever  the  conftitutiou  m.ay  be  in  other  ref- 
pe£ls,  it  has  undoubtedly  been  the  mojl  produd'ive  machine  of  taxa' 
t'lon  that  nvas  e'vcr  invented.  The  tnxes  in  France,  under  the  new 
cpnftitutioTi,  arc  not  quite  thirteen  (hillings  per  head,*  and  the  taxes 

*  The  ■^jjhols  amount  of  the  ojfiffed  taxes  of  France^  for  tJje  prefent 
'ytar^  is  three  hundred  millions  of  livres,  tuhkh  is  twelve  millions  and 
a  half  fieri'}  n^  :  ofid  tl>e  mddentnl  taxrs  are  cf  mated  at  three  millions  ^ 
making  in  ike  ivhok  fifteen  mllhvns  and  a- half;   nvhith  among  twentf-^ 


RIGHTS     OF    MAN.  i^^ 

HI  England  under  what  is  called  its  prefent  conftitution,  are  fnrtv- 
cigbt  ftiillings  and  fix  pence  per  head,  men,  women,  and  childr.n^ 
amounting  to  nearly  fcreiiteen  n:iillions  fterling,  belides  the  expericc 
•f  coUeftion,  which  is  upwards  of  a  million  more 

In  a  country  Hke  England,  where  the  whole  of  the  civil  govern- 
ment is  executed  by  the  people  of  every  town  and  county,  by  moans 
of  parifh  officers,  magiRrates,  quarterly  fefiions,  juries,  and  afiize; 
Without  any  trouble  to  what  is  called  the  government,  or  any  other 
expcnce  to  the  revenue  than  the  falary  of  the  jud^^es,  it  is  aflonilhing 
how  fuch  a  mafs  of  taxes  can  be  employed.  Not  even  the  internal 
defence  of  the  country  is  paid  out  of  the  revenue.  On  all  occa- 
ilons,  whether  real  or  contrived,  recoui^fe  is  continually  had  to  new 
loans  and  to  new  taxes.  No  wonder,  then,  that  a  machine  of  go- 
vernment fo  advantageous  to  the  advocates  of  a  court,  fhould  be  fo 
Jhriumphantly  extolled  !  No  wonder,  that  St.  James's  or  St.  Ste- 
phen's fhould  echo  with  the  continual  cry  of  conftitution  1  No  won- 
■ler,  that  the  French  revolution  fliould  be  reprobated,  and  the  reS" 
piblica  treated  with  reproach !  The  red  book  of  England,  like  the  red 
kook  of  France,  will  explain  the  reafon.* 

I  will  now,  by  way  of  relaxation,  turn  a  thought  or  two  to  MrV 
Burke.      I  aHc  his  pardon  for  negle6^ing  him  fo  long. 

**  America,"  fays  he,  (in  his  fpeech  on  the  Canada  eonllitution 
kill),  *'  never  dreamed  of  fuch  abfurd  doctrine  as  the  Rights  of  Man." 

Mr.  Burke  is  fuch  a  bold  prefumer,  and  advances  his  afTertions  and 
jKis  premifes  with  fuch  a  deficiency  of  judgment,  that,  without  trou- 
bling ourfelves  about  principles  of  philofophy  or  politics,  the  mere 
logical  conclufions  they  produce,  are  ridiculous.      For  inflance, 

If  governments,  as  Mr.  Burke  aflerts,  are  not  founded  on  ths 
lights  of  MAK,  and  are  founded  on  any  rights  at  all,  they  confequently 
juuft  be  founded  on  the  rights  oi  fometh'mg  tliat  i%  not  man*  What 
then  is  that  fomething  I 

four  miU'tons  of  people  ^  is  not  quite  thirty  JloiUtngs  per  head.  France  has 
leffened  her  taxes  ftnce  the  revolutiony  nearly  nine  millions  Jierling  annually » 
Befort  the  revolution,  the  city  of  Paris  paid  a  duty  of  upwards  of 
thirty  per  cent,  on  all  articles  brought  into  the  city.  This  tax  tuas  ccl- 
leSkd  at  the  city  gates.  It  nvas  taken  off  on  the  firfl  of  lajl  Mayy  and  the 
gates  taken  doton. 

*  What  was  called  the  livre  rouge,  or  the  red  book,  in  France,  tvBs 
TUJt  exadly  Jimilar  to  the  court  calendar   in  England ;  hut  it  fti§icientJy 

Jhspci  hotu  a  ^reat  part  of  the  taxes  were  lavifkad* 


i83  P  AINE  ^s    wo  R  KS. 

Generally  fpeaking,  we  know  of  no  other  creatures  that  inhabit 
the  earth  than  man  and  beaft  ;  and  in  all  cafes,  where  only  two  things 
offer  thcmfelves,  and  one  muft  be  admitted,  a  negation  proved  on 
any  one,  amounts  to  an  affirmative  on  the  other;  and  therefore,  Mr. 
Burke,  by  proving  againfl:  the  rights  of  mauy  proves  in  behalf  of  the 
heqji  ;  and  confequently,  proves  that  government  is  a  beaft :  And  as 
difficult  things  fometimes  explain  each  other,  we  now  fee  the  origin 
of  keeping  wild  beafts  in  the  Tower;  for  they  certainly  can  be  of  no 
other  ufe  than  to  fiiew  the  origin  of  the  government.  They  are  in 
the  place  of  a  conftitution.  O  John  Bull,  what  honours  thou  haft 
loft  by  not  being  a  wild  beaft.  Thou  mighteft,  on  Mr.  Burke's  fyf- 
ttm,  have  been  in  the  Tower  for  lif:^. 

If  Mr.  Burke's  arguments  have  not  weight  eaough  to  keep  one 
ferious,  the  fault  is  lefs  mine  than  his ;  and  as  I  am  willing  to  make 
an  apology  to  the  reader  for  the  liberty  I  have  taken,  I  hope  Mr. 
Burke  will  alfo  m.ake  liis  for  giving  the  caufe. 

Having  thus  paid  Mr.  Burke  the  compliment  of  remembering 
him,    I  return  to  the  fubjett. 

From  the  want  of  a  conftitution  in  England,  to  reftrain  and  reg»» 
late  the  wild  impulfe  of  power,  many  of  the  laws  are  irrational  -and 
tyrannical,    and  the  adminiftration  of  them  vague  and  problematicah 

The  attention  of  the  government  of  England  (for  I  rather  chufe 
to  call  it  by  this  name,  than  the  Englllh  government)  appears,  fmce 
its  political  connexion  with  Germany,  to  have  been  fo  completely 
engrofied  and  abforbed  by  foreign  affairs,  and  the  means  of  railing 
taxes,  that  it  feems  to  exift  for  no  other  purpofes.  Domeftic  con- 
cerns are  neglected  :  And,  with  refpeft  to  regular  law,  there  is 
fcarcely  fuch  a  thing. 

Almoft  every  cafe  now  muft  be  determined  by  fom.e  precedents, 
be  that  precedent  good  or  bad,  or  whether  it  properly  applies  or 
not  ;  and  the  prafiice  is  become  fo  general,  as  to  fu ggeft  a  fufpr- 
fion,  that  it  proceeds  from  a  deeper  policy  than  at  ftrft  Hght  appears. 

Since  the  revolution  of  America,  and  more  fo  fmee  that  of  France, 
this  preaching  up  the  do&rine  of  precedents,  drawn  from  times  and 
circumftances  antecedent  to  thofe  events,  has  been  the  Itudied  prac- 
tice of  the  Englifti  government*  The  generality  of  thofe  precedents 
are  founded  on  principles  and  opinions,  the  reverfe  of  what  they 
ought  to  be  ;  and  the  greater  diftance  of  time  they  are  drawn  from, 
the  more  they  are  to  be  fufpedled.  But  by  aflbciating  thofe  prece- 
dents with  a  fuperftitious  reverence  for  ancient  things,  as  monks  fhcw 
relies  and  call  them  holy,  the  generality  of  mankind  are  deceived  into 


R  I  G  H  T  S    O  F    M  A  N*.  iSt 

the  defign.  Governments  now  aft  as  if  they  were  afraid  to  awaken  a 
fmgle  reflexion  in  man.  They  are  foftly  leading  him  to  the  fcpiilchre 
of  precedents,  to  deaden  his  faculties  and  call  his  attention  from  the 
fcenc  of  revolutions.  They  feel  that  he  is  arrivin""  at  knowledfre 
fafter  than  they  wifh,  and  their  poHcy  of  precedents  is  the  barometer 
of  their  fears.  This  political  popery,  like  the  ccclefiaflical  popery  of 
old,  has  had  its  day,  and  is  haftcnin^  to  its  exit.  The  rao-o-ed  relic 
and  the  antiquated  precedent,  the  monk  and  the  monarch,  will 
ftioulder  together. 

Government  by  precedent,  without  any  regard  to  the  principle  of 
the  precedent,  is  one  of  the  vileft  fyftems  that  can  be  fet  up.  In 
numerous  inftances,  the  precedent  ought  to  operate  as  a  warning, 
and  not  as  an  example,  and  requires  to  be  fliunned  inilead  of  imitat- 
ed ;  but  inilead  of  this,  precedents  are  taken  in  the  lump  and  put 
«t  once  for  conftitution  and  for  law. 

Either  the  dodirine  of  precedent  is  policy  to  keep  a  man  in  a  ftate 
•t)f  ignorance,  or  it  is  a  pradical  confeffion  that  wiidom  defeneratea 
in  governments  as  governments  increafe  in  age,  and  can  only  hobble 
along  by  the  (lilts  and  crutches  of  precedents.  How  is  it  that  the 
dfamc  perfons  who  would  proudly  be  thought  wifer  than  their  prede- 
ceflbrs,  appear  at  the  fame  time  only  as  the  ghoits  of  departed  wif- 
dom  ?  How  ftrangely  is  antiquity  treated  I  To  anfwer  fome  pur- 
pofes  it  is  fpoken  of  as  the  times  of  darkncfs  and  ignorance,  and  t5 
anfwer  others  it  is  put  for  the  light  of  the  world. 

If  the  do6lrine  of  precedents  is  to  be  followed,  the  expences  of 
government  need  not  continue  the  fame.  Why  pay  men  extrava- 
gantly, who  have  but  little  to  do  ?  If  every  thing  that  can  happet> 
is  already  in  precedent,  legiflation  is  at  an  end,  and  precedent,  like  a 
dictionary,  determines  every  cafe.  Either,  therefore,  government 
has  arrived  at  its  dotage,  and  requires  to  be  renovated,  or  all  the  oc- 
cafions  for  exercifing  its  wifdom  have  occurred. 

We  now  fee  all  over  Europe,  and  particularly  in  England,  the  cu- 
rious phenomenon  of  a  nation  looking  one  way,  and  a  government 
the  other — the  one  forward,  and  the  other  backward.  If  govern- 
ments are  to  go  on  by  precedent,  while  nations  go  on  by  improve- 
ment, they  mull  at  lad  come  to  a  final  feparation,  and  the  fooncr, 
and  the  more  civilly,   they  determine  this  point,  the  better.* 

*   In  England^  the  Improvements  in  frgriculfure,   nffful  aris^  manu- 

'fdSures,  and  commerce  y  have  been  made  in  oppofUion  to  the  genius  of  its  go- 

verrjncrJy  i':hich  is  that  of follow'iug  precedents.      It  is  f corn  (he  enters 


j'Sz  PAINE'3    WORKS. 

Having  tlius  fpoken  of  conftitutions  generally,  as  things  diftln6c 
from  a6liial  governments,  let  us  proceed  to  confider  the  parts  of 
which  a  conflitution  is  compofed. 

Opinions  differ  more  on  this  fubjecl,  than  with  refpefl  to  the 
whole.  That  a  nation  ought  to  have  a  conftitiition,  as  a  rule  for 
the  conduct  of  its  government,  is  a  fmiple  queftion  in  which  ail  men, 
not  direftly  courtiers,  will  agree.  It  is  only  on  the  component  parts 
that  qucilions  and  opinions  multiply 

But  this  difficulty,  like  every  other,  will  diminiih  when  put  into  a 
train  of  being  rightly  underftood. 

The  firft  thing  is,  that  a  nation  has  a  right  to  eftablifh  a  conili' 
tution. 

Whether  it  exercifes  this  right  in  the  moft  judicious  manner  at  fivft, 
is  quite  another  cafe.  It  exercifes  it  agreeably  to  the  judgment  it 
pofieffes ;  and  by  continuing  to  do  fo,  all  errors  will  at  lafl  be  ex- 
ploded. 

Whefi  this  right  is  eilablifhed  in  a  nation,  there  is  no  fear  that  i^ 
will  be  employed  to  its  own  injury.  A  nation  can  have  no  intere^ 
In  being  wrong. 

Though  all  the  conftitutions  of  America  arc  on  one  general  prin* 
eiple,  yet  no  two  of  them  are  e^aftly  alike  in  their  component  parts, 
or  in  the  diftribution  of  the  powers  which  they  give  to  the  avflual  gO" 
vernments.     Some  are  more,  and  others  lefs  complex. 

In  farming  a  conflitution,  it  is  firft  necelfary  to  confider  what 
are  the  ends  for  which  govern m.ent  is  neceflary  ?  Secondly,  what 
are  the  bed  means,  and  the  leafl  expcnfive,  for  acqomplifhing  thoic 
ends  ? 

Government  is  nothing  more  than  a  national  afTociation ;  and  the 
obje6l  of  this  afTociation  is  the  good  of  all,  as  well  iiKlividually  as 
collectively.  Every  man  wilhes  to  purfue  his  occupation,  and  to  cn-> 
joy  the  fruits  of  his  labours,  and  the  produce  of  his  property  in  peace 

prize  and  in diijlry  of  the  individuals ^  and  thc'ir  ntnneroiis  aJfociaUonsy,  'm 
nvhich,  tritely /peaking  f  government  is  neither  pilloiv  nor  holjler,  that  theft 
improvements  have  proceeded.  Ko  man  thought  about  the  government^  of' 
ivho  ivas  Wi  or  who  zvas  outy  ivhen  he  ivas  planning  or  executing  thofe 
things  ;  qnd  all  he  had  to  hope,  ivlth  refpe^  to  government,  ivas,  that  ii. 
nvould  let  hhn  alone.  Three  or  four  very /illy  mlnl/Ierlal  netvfpapers  are 
continually  offending  agalnjl  the  fplrlt  of  national  Improvement,  by  afcrlh" 
ing  it  to  a  minl/iir.  They  may  lulth  as  much  truth  afcrth*  this  book  ta  # 
fiiiplflcr. 


RIGHTS    OF    MAN.  183 

and  fafcty,  snd  with  the  leaft  pcfnble  expence.  When  thefe  things 
are  accomph'flied,  all  the  objcfts  for  which  government  ©ught  to  be 
eflablifhed  are  anfw»frcd. 

It  has  been  cufliomary  to  confider  government  under  three  dif- 
im€t  general  heads.     The  legiflativc,  the  executive,  and  the  judicial. 

But  if  we  permit  our  judg-ment  to  aft  unincumbered  by  the  habit 
"•f  multi})lied  terms,  we  can  perceive  no  more  than  two  divifions  of 
power,  of  whicli  civil  government  is  compofed,  namely,  that  of  leglf» 
lating  or  cnafting  laws,  and  that  of  executing  or  adminiflering  thein. 
Every  thing,  therefore,  appertaining  to  civil  government,  clalTes  it- 
fclf  linder  one  or  other  of  thefe  two  divifions. 

So  far  as  recrards  the  execution  of  the  laws,  that  which  is  called 
the  judicial  power,  is  ftridlly  and  properly  the  executive  power  of 
tv<:\-y  country.  It  is  that  power  to  wliieli  every  individual  has  appeal, 
and  which  caufea  the  laws  to  be  executed;  neither  have  we  any  other 
clear  idea  with  refpeft  to  the  official  execution  of  the  laws.  la. 
England,  and  alfo  in  America  and  France,  this  power  begins  with 
the  magidrate,  and  proceeds  up  through  all  the  courts  of  judicature. 

I  ledvc  to  courtiers  to  explain  what  is  meant  by  caliing  monarchy 
the  executive  power.  It  is  merely  a  nam.e  in  which  a6ls  of  govern- 
jncnt  arc  done  ;  and  any  ether,  or  none  at  all,  would  anfwer  the 
fame  purpofe.  Laws  have  neither  more  nor  lefs  authority  on  this- 
account.  It  muft  be  from  the  juftnefs  of  their  principles,  and  the 
intercft  which  a  nation  feels  therein,  that  they  derive  fupport  ;  if 
they  require  any  other  than  this,  it  is  a  fign  that  fomcthing  in  the 
fyllem  of  government  is  imperfeft.  Laws  difficult  to  be  executed 
cannot  be  generally  good. 

With  refpe^^l  to  the  organization  of  the  legtj! at tve  powers  different 
modes  have  been  adopted  in  diderent  countries.  In  America  it  is 
generally  oompofcd  of  two  houfes.  In  France  it  confifts  but  of  one, 
but  fn  both  countries  ft  is  wholly  by  reprefentation. 

The  cafe  is,  that  mankind  (from  the  long  tyranny  of  afTumcd  pow- 
er) have  had  fo  few  opportunities  of  making  the  neceffary  trials  on 
modes  and  principles  of  government,  in  order  to  difcover  the  befk, 
that  gavernment  Is  but  now  beginning  to  be  inoivTi}  a[id  experience  is  yet 
wanting^  to  determine  many  particulars. 

The  obje<^ions  again  ft  two  houfes  are,  firft,  that  there  is  an  incon^ 
(iftency  in  any  part  of  a  whole  legiflature,  comiug  to  a  final  determi-, 
nation  by  vote  on  any  matter,  whilft  t/jat  matter  with  refpe6l  to  thai 
kuhohi  IS  yet  only  \\\  a  tra^n  of  df liberation,  and  cowfequently  open 
to  new  illuftrations. 


i8i|.  TpAINE^s    WORKS. 

S^dondir,  That  by  taking  the  vote  on  each,  as  a  feparate.  body,  it 
alwaTs  admits  of  the  pofiibihty,  and  is  often  the  cafe  in  praftice,  that 
the  minority  governs  the  majority,  and  that,  in  fome  inftances,  to  a 
degree  of  great  inconfiftency. 

Thirdly,  That  two  houfes  arbitrarily  checking  or  controlling  each 
clher,  is  incoi  fi  tent;  becaafe  it  cannot  be  proved,  on  the  principles 
of  jiift  leprefentation,  that  either  fhould  be  wifer,  or  better  than  the 
other.  They  may  check  in  the  wrong  as  well  as  in  the  right, — an4 
therefore,  to  give  the  power  where  we  cannot  give  the  wifdom  to 
ufe  Ie,  nor  be  afluved  of  its  being  rightly  ufed,  renders  the  hazard  at 
leafc  equal  to  the  precaution.* 

The  objeftion  ag:iinft  a  fmgle  houfe  is,  that  it  is  always  in  a  con- 
dition of  committing  itfdf  too  foon.  Biit  it  Oiould  at  the  fame  timi 
t>e  remembered  that  when  there  is  a  ccnftitution  which  defines  the 
power,  and  eftablitlies  the  principles  within  which  a  legiflature  (hall 

*  fV'tih  refpeH  to  the  t'wo  hcrifes,  of  ivhkh  the  Engllfh  parl'tament  is 
ttimprfed,  they  appear  to  be  effedually  itiflueyiced  into  one^  and,  as  a 
kglflalure,  to  have  no  temper  of  its  own.  The  mintfler,  luhoe'ver  he 
nt  any  time  may  he,  touches  it  as  cuith  an  oplurn  ^and,  and  it  Jleeps 
clcdience.  " 

But  if  f.ve  Jooh  at  the  dflinB  abilities  of  the  ituo  houfes,  the  difference 
nmll  appear  fo  great,  as  tojhew  the  inconjflency  of  placing  po^uter  tvhert 
there  can  be  no  cert&ixfy  of  the  Judgment  to  ufe  it,  JV retched  as  theflate 
rf  reprefeniat'tonis  in  England,  it  is  manhood  compared  nvith  what  is  called 
the  hovfe  of  lords  ;  and  fo  Utile  is  this  nick-named  hoife  regarded,  that  the 
^.enpiJp  fcarcely  inquire  at  any  time  tuhal  it  is  doing.  It  appears  alfo  to  be 
ffiojl  under  influence,  and  the  fiirtheft  remo'ved from  the  general  inter efl  of 
the  nation,  hi  the  debate  on  engaging  in  the  Ruffian  and  Turhifli  war, 
the  mc^ority  in  the  houfe  of  peers  in  favour  of  it  was  upwards  of  ninety, 
when  in  the  other  houf,  which  is  more  than  double  its  numbers^  the  md- 
jorily  wasftxfy-4hrec. 

The  proceedings  on  Mr.  Fox^s  bill,  rcfpeSing  the  rights  of  juries,  merits 
elfo  to  be  noticed.  The  perfons  called  the  peers  were  not  the  vbjeffs  o/* 
that  nil.  They  are  already  in  poffejfon  of  more  privileges  than  that  bill 
gave  to  Others.  They  are  their  own  jury,  and  if  any  of  that  houfe  were 
profecufed for  a  libel,  he  would  not  fiiffer,  even  upon  conviction,  for  the 
fir/}  offence.  Such  inequality  in  laws  ought  not  to  ex'fi  in  any  country. 
The  French  confiitution  fays.  That  the  law  is  the  fame  to  every 
ii\dividual,  whether  to  proteft  or  to  puniili.  AH  are  equal  in  i\» 
fight. 


RIGHTS     OF    MAN.  18^ 

•ii€tf  there  Is  already  a  mors  efFe^^ual  check  provided,  and  rnoie  pow- 
erfully operating,   than  any  other  check  can  be.     For  example, 

Were  a  bill  to  be  brought  into  any  of  the  American  legiOitures, 
fimllar  to  that  which  was  pafTed  Into  an  a6l  by  the  EngllOi  parlia- 
ment, at  the  commencement  of  George  the  firft,  to  extend  the  dura- 
.tlon  of  the  aiTemblies  to  a  longer  period  than  they  now  fit,  the  check 
is  In  the  conilitutlon,  which  In  effed:  fays,  ''Thit>  far  Jhali  thou  go,  and 
no  fiiriher. 

But  In  order  to  remove  the  obieftlon  agalud  a  fingle  houfe  (that 
of  afting  with  too  quick  an  Impulfe)  and  at  the  fame  time  to  avoid 
the  inconfillencies,  la  fome  cafes  abfurdltles,  arifing  from  two  houfes, 
the  following  method  has  been  propofed  as  an  Improvement  on  both. 

Fifft,  To  have  but  one  reprefcntatlon. 

Secondly,  To  divide  that  reprefcntatlon,  by  lot,  Into  two  or  three 
■  parts. 

Thirdly,   That  every  propofed  bill  fliail  be  fufl  debated  In  thofe' 
parts,  by  fuccefilon,    that  they  may   become  hearers  of  each  otljcr, 
-but  without  taking  any  vote.     After  v/hlch  the  whole  reprefcntatlon 
to  alTemble,  for  a  general  debate  and  determination,  by  vote. 

To  this  propofed  Improvement  has  been  added  another,  for  the 
purpofe  of  keeping  the  reprefcntatlon  In  a  ftate  of  confcant  renova- 
tion ;  which  Is,  that  one  third  of  the  reprefcntatlon  cf  each  county 
(hall  go  out  at  the  expiration  of  one  year,  and  the  number  be  replaced 
by  new  ele«5lIon3. — Another  third  at  the  expiration  of  the  fecond 
year  replaced  In  like  manner,  and  every  third  year  to  be  a  general 
€ieclIon.* 

But  In  whatever  manner  the  feparate  parts  of  a  conftltutloji  may 
be  arranged,  there  Is  c!ie  general  principle  that  dllllnguhTies  freedom 
from  flavery,  which  is,  that  all  hereditary  govsrnment  over  a  pcoiL' 
h  to  them  a.  fpecles  ofJJaverv,  and  reprefcntativz  goiyernment  is  freedoiv, 

Confidering  government  in  the  only  light   In  which  It   fiioul  d  be 
confidered,   that    of  a    national  association,    it  ought  to  be  fo 
conftruded  as  not  to  be  difordered  by  any  accident  happening  among 
-the  parts;    and,   therefore,   no  extraordinary  power,  capable  of  pro- 
ducing fuch  an  effeiTi,  Hiuuld  be  lodged  in  the  hands  cf  any  Individual. 

*  As  to  the  ftate  cf  nprfentatlon  in  England y  it  is  too  ahfurd  to  le 
reafoned  upon.  Ah)wfl  all  the  reprcfenled  parts  are  decreqfmg  in  popula- 
tion,  and  the  imreprfcnted parts  arc  increafmg.  A  general  convention  of 
the  nation  is  neceffary  to  take  thj  luhole  flalc  (fits  government  into  con- 
federation. 

Vol.  IL  Bb 


iS6  PAINE's     WORKS. 

The  death,  ficknefs,  abf^ice,  or  defedlion,  of  any  one  individual  in  a. 
gcvji  iiment>  ought  to  be  a  matter  of  no  more  confequence,  with  re- 
fpect  to  the  nation,  than  if  the  fame  circumiiance  had  taken  place  in 
a  nicmber  of  the  Englifh  parliament,  or  the  French  national  alTembly. 

Scarcely  any  thiiig  prefents  a  more  degrading  chara£ler  of  national 
greatnefsj  than  its  being  thrown  into  cor-fiifion  by  any  thing  happen- 
ing to,  or  acted  by,  an  individual;  and  the  ridiculoufnefs  of  the  fcenc 
is  cricn  increafed  by  the  natural  infigniiicance  of  the  perfon  by  whom 
it  is  occafioned.  Were  a  government  fo  conftruvStea,  that  it  could 
not  go  on  unlefs  a  goofe  or  a  gander  were  preient  in  the  fenate,  the 
difliculties  would  be  jull  as  great  and  as  real  on  the  flight  or  ficknefs 
of  the  goofe  or  the  gander,  as  if  it  were  called  a  king.  We  laugh  at 
ipdividuals  for  the  filly  difiiculties  they  make  to  tliemfelves,  without 
perceiving,  that  the  greateil  of  ail  ridiculous  things  are  a<5^ed  in. 
governments.* 

All  the  confiitutions  of  America  arc  on  a  plan  that  excludes  the 
child ifh  embarraffments  which  occur  in  monarchical  countries.  No 
fufpenfion  of  government  can  there  take  place  for  a  moment,  from 
any  circumiiance  v.'hatever.  The  fyilem  of  reprefentation  provides 
for  every  thing,  and  is  the  only  fyftem  in  which  nations  and  govern- 
ments can  always  appear  in  their  proper  chara£ler. 

As  extraordinary  power  ought  not  to  be  lodged  in  the  hands  of 
any    individual,    fo  ought  there  to  be  no  appropriations  of  public- 

*  It  IS  "dated,  that  in  the  canton  of  Berne,  in  Szu'lferlandy  it  had 
been  cv'Jcinary^from  time  immavoriaJ,  to  keep  a  bear  at  the  public  txpencey 
and  ihe  people  had,,  been  taught  to  believe,  that  if  they  had  not  a  bear,  they 
fl-uld  all  he  unelone.  It  happened  fome  years  ago,  that  the  bear,  then  in 
be'iT?^,  ivas  taken  fich,  and  died  too  fudderJy  to  have  his  place  immediately 
fupplied  iviih  another.  During  this  interregnum  the  people  difcovered, 
that  the  corn  gre-w,  and  the  vintage  fionrfhed,  and  the  fun  and  moon  con- 
tinued to  rife  and  fet,  and  every  thing  ivent  on  the  fame  as  before,  and, 
taking  courage  from  ihefe  cir cur,  fiances,  they  refolved  not  to  keep  any  more, 
bears  ;  for,  faid  they,  "  a  -iear  is  a  very  voracious,  cxpenf.ve  animal, 
"  and  ive  ii)ere  obliged  to  pull  out  his  claivs,  Icfl  he  JJjould  hurt  the 
*'  citizens.^* 

The  /lory  of  the  bear  of  Berne  nvas  related  in  fonic  of  the  French 
V.eivs-papcrs,  at  the  time  of  the  flight  of  Louis  XVI.  and  the  application 
cf  it  to  monarchy  could  not  be  mifahen  in  France  ;  but  it  ferns,  that  the 
ariflocracy  of  Brrne  applied  it  to  themfelves^  and  have  Jmce prohibited  thr 
reading  of  Frens'h  neivs-papers» 


RIGHTS     OF    MA  N.  i^j 

money  to  any  peiTon,  beyond  what  his  fervices  'm  a  Hate  may  be 
worth.  It  fignifies  not  whether  a  man  be  called  a  prefident,  a  In  ;g, 
an  emperor,  a  fenator,  or  by  any  otlier  name,  which  propriety  or 
folly  may  deviie,  or  arrogance  alfiime;  it  k  only  a  certain  fervice  he 
can  perform  in  the  ilate;  and  the  fervice  of  any  fuch  individual  in  the 
rotine  of  ofHce,  whether  fuch  olnce  be  called  mojiarchical,  prefiden- 
tial,  fenatorial,  or  by  another,  name  or  title,  can  never  exceed  the 
value  often  thoufand  pounds  a  yera*.  All  the  great  fervices  that  are 
done  in  the  world  are  performed  by  volunteer  chara6lers,  who  ac- 
ce2)t  nothing  for  them  ;  but  the  rotine  of  cfSce  is  always  rv.galated 
to  fuch  a  general  llandard  of  abilities  as  to  be  within  the  compafs  of 
numbers  in  every  country  to  perform,  and  therefore  cannot  mer.t 
very  extraordinary  rccompence.  Govcrwncniy  fays  Swift,  is  a  plain 
thing f  andjitied  to  the  capacity  of  r.iany  heads. 

It  is  inhuman  to  talk  of  a  million  fterling  a  year,  paid  out  of  the 
public  taxes  of  any  country,  for  the  fapport  of  any  individual,  whilH 
thoufands  who  are  forced  to  contribute  thereto,  are  pining  wuh 
want,  and  ftruo-o-ling-  with  miferv.  Governm.ent  does  not  conhft 
in  a  contrail  between  prifons  and  palaces,  between  poverty  and 
pomp;  it  is  not  inftituted  to  rob  the  needy  of  his  mite,  and  incn^n'e 
the  wretchednefs  of  the  wretched. — But  of  this  pnrt  of  the  fubu-ct 
I-fhall  fpeak  hereafter,  and  confine  m^'L-lf  at  prefent  to  political 
obfervations. 

When  extraordinary  power  and  extraordinary  pay  are  allotted  to 
any  individual  in  a  government,  he  becomes  the  centre,  round  which 
every  kind  of  corruption  generates  and  forms.  Give  to  any  man  a 
million  a  year,  and  add  thereto  the  power  of  creating  and  difpofing  of 
places,  at  the  expence  of  a  country-,  and  the  liberties  of  that, country 
are  no  longer  fecure.  What  is  called  the  fplendcur  of  a  throne,  is  no 
other  than  the  corruption  of  the  Hate.  It  is  made  up  of  a  band  of 
parafites,   living  in  luxurious  indolence,   out  of  the  public  taxes. 

When  once  fuch  a  vicious  fyftem  is  eftablilhed,  il  bec-on~es  tlie 
guard  and  proteftion  of  all  inferior  abufes.  The  man  who  is  in  tlie 
receipt  of  a  million  a  year  is  the  lad  perfon  to  promote  a  fpirit  of 
reform,  left,  in  the  event,  it  fliould  reach  to  himfelf.  It  is  always 
his  intereft  to  defend  inferior  abufes,  as  fo  many  out-workh  to  prote<Sl 
the  citadel  ;  and  in  this  fpecies  of  political  fortification,  all  the 
parts  have  fuch  a  common  d.^pendence,  that  it  is  never  to  be  expeiled 
they  will  attack  each  other.* 

*    Jt  is  fcarcely  pojlbk  to  touch  en  any  fuhjsctf  that  will  not  fitggsjl  o 


iSS  PAINE^s     WOP.  KS. 

Monard:}-  -»vo'..:ld  ro';  have  continued  fo  many  ages  in  the  world, 
had  it  not  been  fjY  the  abafts  it  prctecls.  It  is  the  rnafter-fraud, 
\yhieh  flielters  all  othe^-s.  By  admitting  a  participation  of  the  fpoil, 
it  makes  itfelf  friends;  and  when  ic  ceafes  to  do  this,  it  will  ccafe  to 
be  the  idol  of  courtiers. 

As  tiie  principle  on  which  cond.'tv.'. 'ons  are  now  formed  rejects  all 
hereditary  pretenfions  to  f^overnment,  it  alTo  rejetts  all  that  catalogue 
of  afiumptions  known  by  the  name  of  prerogatives. 

It  there  is  any  governement  where  prerogatives  might  witli  ?pp3- 
rent  fai^ety  b'e  intrufted  to  any  individiuil,  it  is  in  the  federal  govern- 
ment of  America.  The  prefident  of  the  United  i  tates  of  America 
is  clefted  only  for  four  ytars.  He  is  not  only  refponfiule  in  thege- 
Reral  Icnfe  of  the  word,  but  a  particular  mode  is  laid  down  in  the  con- 
ilitution  for  trying  hirn.  He  cannot  be  tlecled  under  thiriy-hve 
years  of  age;  and  he  miiix  be  a  native  of  the  country. 

In  a  comparifon  of  thefe  cafes  with  the  governm.ent  of  England, 
the  diiTerence.  when  applied  to  the  latter,  amounts  to  an  abfuidity. 
In  England,  the  pcrfon  who  exerciies prerogative  k  often  a  foreigner; 

^Jh'jlon  io  fjme  cormpilon  in  govcnvvcnt:.  The  Jimik  rf  "  fortifica- 
"  tion^j"  vnjorlunalely  involves  ii'iiL  it  a  circmnjiance,  ivhich  is  di- 
retiJy  in  pQnit  ivith  ih^  malUr  alovc aJiiuud  Iq. 

Among  the  mimevoiis  iijlanccs  cf  aluje  "u-hich  l:a"c^  been  oMed  or  pro- 
teciedi.  by  govcrnmcnU,  ancient  or  niocuern,  there  is  7ict  a  greater  than  that 
cf  cuartei  mg  a  man  and  his  heirs  vpun  the pvlhc,  to  he  viamta'ined  at  its 

c::t::::e. 

J. 

Huviatilly  dictates  a  prcv'ifiofi  fur  the  poor  ;  lul  by  what  right,  moral 
or  political,  docs  any  govenimtut  ajfume  to  fay,  that  the  perfon  ccdled  the 
dale  cf  Richmond,  fiall  he_  maintained  by  the  public  P  2>/,  if  common 
report  is  true,  not  a  beggar  in  London  can  purchafe  his  'wretched pittanct 
(f  coal,  'without  paying  tcwards  the  ciml  lifl  cf  the  duhc  cf  Richmond. 
Were  the  indole  produce  of  this  impofiiicn  but  a  JhiUing  a  year,  the  ini- 
quitous principle  'would  be  fill  the  fame  ;  but  ivhen  it  amounts,  as  it  is 
faid  to  do,  id  not  kfs  than  t<wenty  thoufand pounds  per  ann.  the  enormity 
is  toofcrious  to  be  permitted  to  remain This  is  one  of  the  (jfcls  cf  mo- 
narchy and  arijlocrary. 

Inflating  this  cafe,  I  am  led  by  no  perfumd  dijlile.  Though  I  ihinh 
It  mean  in  any  man  to  live  upon  the  public,  the  vice  originates  in  the  go- 
vernment ;  andfo  general  is  it  become,  that  luhethcr  the  parties  are  in  iJjc 
mini/lry  cr  in  the  cpprfiticn,  it  ?nalrs  no  dilTercnce  ;  the-  are  fure  cf  th^ 
guarantee  nf  each  ether. 


IIIGHTS     OF    MAN.  iSg 

always  half  a  foreigner,  and  always  married  to  a  foreigner.  He  is 
never  in  full  natural  or  political  connexion  with  the  countr}',  is  not 
refponfible  for  any  thing,  and  becomes  of  age  at  eighteen  years;  yet 
fuch  a  perfon  is  permitted  to  form  foreign  alhanccs,  without  even 
the  knowledge  of  the  nation ;  and  to  make  war  and  peace  without  its 
confent. 

But  this  is  not  all.  Though  fuch  a  perfon  cannot  difpofe  of  the 
government,  in  the  manner  of  a  teftator,  he  dilates  the  mai-riage 
conne(3:ions,  which,  in  effe^l,  accomipliihes  a  great  part  of  the  fame 
end.  He  cannot  dire£tly  bequeath  half  the  government  to  Prnffia, 
but  he  can  form  a  marriage  partncrfhip  that  will  produce  almoll  the 
fame  thing.  Under  fuch  circumflances,  it  is  happy  for  England 
that  fhe  is  not  fituated  on  the  continent,  or  (he  might,  like  Holland, 
fall  under  the  diclatorfliip  of  PrufTia.  Holland,  by  m.arriage,  is  as 
effeftually  governed  by  PruiTia,  as  if  the  old  tyranny  of  bequeathing 
the  governmient  had  been  the  means. 

The  prefidency  in  America  (or,  as  it  is  fometimes  called,  the 
executive)  is  the  only  office  from  which  a  foreigner  is  excluded;  and 
in  England  it  is  the  only  one  to  which  he  is  admitted.  A  foreigner; 
cannot  be  a  member  of  parliament,  but  he  may  be  what  is  called  a 
king.  If  there  is  any  reafon  for  excluding  foreigners,  it  ouglit  to  be 
from  thofe  offices  where  mifchief  can  be  moft  a6led,  and  where,  by 
uniting  every  bias  of  intereft  and  attachment,  the  truft  is  beil  fecured. 

But  as  nations  proceed  in  the  great  bufmefs  of  forming  ccnibtu- 
tions,  they  will  examine  with  more  precifion  into  the  nature  and 
bufmefs  of  that  department  which  is  called  the  executive.  What 
the  legiilative  and  judicial  departments  are,  every  one  can  fee  ;  but 
v/ith  refpeft  to  what,  in  Europe,  is  called  the  executive,  as  diRinii 
from  thofe  tvro,  it  is  either  a  political  fuperfluity  or  a  chaos  of  un- 
known thinrs. 

Some  kind  of  official  department,  to  which  reports  fliall  be  made 
from  the  diffi^rent  parts  of  a  nation,  or  from  abroad,  to  be  laid  before 
the  national  reprefentatives,  is  all  that  is  neceffary  ;  but  there  is  no 
confiitency  in  calhng  this  the  executive ;  Heither  can  it  be  coniidered 
in  any  other  hght  than  as  inferior  to  the  legiflative.  The  fovereio-n 
authority  in  any  couritry  is  the  power  of  making  laws,  and  every 
thing  elfe  is  an  official  department. 

Next  to  the  arrangement  of  the  principles  and  the  organization 
of  the  feveral  parts  of  a  conilitution,  is  the  provifion  to  be  made  for 
the  fupport  of  the  perfons  to  vrhcm  the  nation  fiiall  confide  the  admi- 
niilration  of  the  conilitutional  powers. 


J90  P  A  T  N  E  » s    W  O  R  K  S. 

A  nation  cm  have  no  right  to  the  tiire  and  fervices  of  any  perfoH 
at  his  own  expence,  whom  it  may  clioofe  to  employ  or  hitriifi  in  any 
department  whatever  ;  neither  can  any  reafon  be  given  for  making 
provilion  for  the  fupport  of  any  one  part  of  a  government  and  not 
for  the  other. 

jjut,  admitting  that  the  honour  of  beine  intruded  with  any  part 
of  a  govern n-ntj  k  to  be  ccnfldered  a  fiiflicient  reward,  it  ouoht 
to  be  fo  to  eveiy  perfon  a-ike.  If  the  rn-n,bers  of  the  legiilatuie  of 
any  country  are  to  ferve  at  their  own  expence,  that  which  is  called 
the  executive,  whether  monarchical,  or  by  any  other  name,  ouaht  to 
lerve  m  I.ke  manner.  It  is  inconufcent  to  pay  the  one,  and  accept 
the  fervice  of  the  other  rra^is. 

o 

•  In  America  ever}-  department  in  tlie  government,  is  decently  pro- 
vided for  ;  but  no  one  is  extravagantly  paid.  Every  member  of 
congrefs,  and  of  the  afTc-mblies,  it  a]k)wed  a  fulBciency  for  his  expen- 
ces.  Whereas  in  England,  a  moft  prodigal  provifion  is  made  for 
tne  fupport  of  one  p?rt  of  the  governmrent,  and  none  for  the  other; 
the  confequence  of  v/hich  is,  that  the  one  it  furnilhed  with  the  meun^ 
of  corruption,  and  the  other  is  put  into  the  condition  of  being  cor- 
rupted. Lefs  than  a  fourth  part  of  fnch  expence,  applied  as  it  is  in 
America,  woiikl  remedy  a  great  part  of  the  corruption. 

Another  reform  in   the  American  conkitntions,    is  the  exploding 
all  oaths  of  perfonality.      The  cath  of  allegiance  in  America  is  to  the 
nation  only.      The  putting  any   individual  as  a  n*>urefora  nation  is 
improper.     The  hsppinefg  of  a  nation   is   the   fuperior  object,  and 
therefore   the  intention  of  an  oath  of  allegiance  ought  not  to  be  ob- 
fcured  by  being  .'i;:;uratively  taken,  to,  or  in  the  nam.e  of,  any  perfon. 
The  oath,  c?.l;.d  ihe  civic  oath,  in  France,  viz.  the  *'  nm'ion,  the  laiv, 
"  and  the  hvig,''^   is  improper.      If  taken  at  ali,   it  ought  to  he  as   in 
America,  to  the  nation  only.     The  law  may  or  may  not  be  good  ; 
but,  in  this  place,  it  can  have  no  other  meaning,   than  as  being  con- 
ducive to  the  h^appinefs  of  tlie  nation,  and  therefore  is  included  in  it. 
Tlie  rem.amder  of  the  oath  is  improper,   on  the  ground,  that  all  per- 
fotml  oaths  ought  to  be  aboIiPned.     They  are  the  remains  of  tyranny 
on  one  part,  and  flavery  on  the  other;  and  the  name  of  the  Creator 
©ught  not  to  be  introduced  to  witnefs  the  degradation  of  his  creation ; 
or  if  taken,  as  is  already  mentioned,  as  figurative  of  the  nation,  it  is 
in  tliis  place   redundant.      But  wliatever  apology  may  be  made  for 
oaths  at  the  firft  eflabhinment  of  a  government,  they  ought  not    to 
be    permitted  afterwards.      If  a  government  requires  the  fupport    of 
oaths,  it  is  a  fign  that  it  is  not  worth  fupporting,  and  ought  not  t® 


U  I  G  H  T  S     OF    MA  N.  191 

be  fupported.     Make  government  wh?.t  it  ouglit  to  be,  and  it  v.ill 
fupport  itfclf. 

To  conclude  this  part  of  the  fubje£l: — One  of  the  greatefl  im- 
provements th:it  has  been  made  fur  the  perpetual  fecurity  and  progrefs 
of  conftitutloual  hberty,  is  the  provlhon  which  the  new  conlliliutions 
make  for  occaiionally  rev.'fjng,  alrenug,  and  amending  ihem. 

The  principle  upon  which  Mr.  Burke  formed  his  poiiiical  creed,. 
that  **  of  binding  and  controlling  pojhriiy  fo  the  end  of  ii/m,  and  renounc- 
"  ing  and  abdicating  the  righ:s  of  all  pofierily  far  ever,''*  is  now  become 
too  deteftable  to  be  made  a  fubjecl  of  debate;  and,  therefore,  I  pafs 
it  over  with  no  other  notice  than  cxpoung  it. 

Government  is  but  now  besfinnincr  to  be  known.  Hitherto  ic  has 
been  the  mere  exercife  of  power,  which  forbad  ail  effeftual  enquiry 
into  rights,  and  grounded  iti'clf  wliolly  on  poiTeflion.  While  the 
enemy  of  liberty  was  its  judge,  the  progrefs  of  its  principles  mud 
have  been  fmali  indeed. 

The  conilitiitions  of  America,  and  alfo  that  of  France,  have  either 
affixed  a  period  for  their  reviiion,  or  laid  down  the  mode  by  which 
improvements  fnall  be  made.  It  is  perhaps  impoiTible  to  cilablifh  any 
thi.ig  that  combines  principles  with  opinions  and  pradlice,  which  the 
progrefs  of  circumltances,  througli  a  length  of  years,  will  not  in  fome 
meafure  derange,  or  render  inconfident  ;  and,  therefore,  to  prevent 
inconveniences  accurnvdatinr,  t:ll  tlijv  difcourasre  reformations  or 
provoke  revolutions,  it  is  beil  to  provide  the  means  of  regulating 
them  as  they  occur.  The  Pvights  of  Man  are  the  i-ights  of  all  gene- 
rations of  men,  and  cannot  be  monopolized  by  any.  That  which  is 
worth  foliowinv-T,  will  be  followed  for  the  fake  of  its  worth  ;  and  it 
is  in  this  that  its  fecurity  lies,  and  not  in  any  conditions  with  which 
it  may  be  encumb(?red.  When  a  man  leaves  property  to  his  heirs, 
he  does  not  connect  it  with  an  obllgacion  that  they  Aiall  accept  it,, 
Why  then  fliould  wo.  do  otherwife  with  relpe^l  to  conPtitutions  ? 

The  bell  conilitution  that  could  now  be  devifed,  confillent  with 
the  condition  of  the  prefent  moment,  may  be  far  fliort  of  that  excel- 
lence which  a  few  years  may  afford.  There  is  a  morning  of  reafoa 
rifmo-  upon  man  on  the  fubjedl  of  government,  that  has  not  appeared 
before.  As  the  barbarifm  of  the  prefent  old  governments  expires, 
the  moral  condition  of  nations,  with  refpecft  to  each  other,  will  be 
changed.  Man  will  not  be  brought  up  with  the  favage  idea  of  con- 
fiderlng  his  fpecies  as  his  enemy,  becaufe  the  accident  of  birth  gave 
the  individuals  exigence  in  countries  diftinguifiied  by  different  names; 
and  as- conditutions  have  always  fome  relation  to  external  as  Vv'-ell  as 


192  PAINED     WORKS. 

to  ciomeftic  circumftances,  the  means  of  benefitting  by  every  cliange, 
foreign  or  domeilic,    iliould  be  a  part  of  every  conllitution. 

We  already  fee  an  alteration  in  the  national  difpofition  of  England 
and  France  to\vards  each  other,  which,  vv-hen  we  look  back  to  only 
a  few  years,  is  itfelf  a  revolution.  Who  could  have  forefeen,  or  who 
would  have  believed,  that  a  French  National  Afiembly  would  ever 
have  been  a  popular  tcall  in  England,  or  that  a  friendly  alliance  of  tbc 
two  nations  (hould  become  the  wifn  of  either  ?  It  fhews,  that  man, 
were  he  not  corrupted  by  governments,  is  naturally  the  friend  of  man, 
and  that  human  nature  is  not  of  itfelf  vicious.  That  fpirit  of  jealoufy 
and  ferocity,  wliich  the  governments  of  the  two  countries  iufpired, 
and  which  they  rendered  fubfervient  to  the  piirpofe  of  taxation,  is  now 
yielding  to  the  dictates  of  reafon,  interefl:,  and  humanity.  The  trade 
of  courts  is  beginning  to  be  underftood,  and  the  affeftation  of  myf- 
tery,  with  all  the  artificial  forcerj^  by  which  they  impofed  upon  m,an- 
kind,  is  on  the  decline.  It  has  received  its  death-wound ;  and 
thougli  it  may  linger,  it  will  expire. 

Government  ought  to  be  as  much  open  to  improvement  as  any 
thing  which  appertains  to  iiaan,  inftead  of  which  it  has  been  mono- 
polized from  age  to  age,  by  the  moil  ignorant  and  vicious  of  the  hu- 
man race.  Need  we  any  otlier  proof  of  their  wretched  management, 
than  tbe  cxccfs  of  debts  and  taxes  with  which  every  nation  groans, 
and  the  quarre-s  into  which  they  have  precipitated  the  world? 

Juft  emerging  from  fuch  a  barbarous  condition,  it  is  too  foon  to 
determine  to  what  extent  of  improvement  governmient  may  yet  be 
carried.  For  what  we  can  forefee,  all  Europe  may  form  but  one 
great  republic,  and  man  be  free  of  the  whole. 


■aaSGOfiCEBBassM 


CHAP.     V. 

WAYS  AND  MEANS  OF  IIvlPROVING  THE  CONDF 
TION  OF  EUROPE,  INTERSPERSED  WITH  MIS- 
CELLANEOUS  OBSERVATIONS. 


N  contemplating  a  fubjed  that  embraces  with  equatorial  m.agni- 
tudc  the  whole  region  of  humanity,  it  is  impoffible  to  confine  the  pur- 
fuit  in  one  finglc  diredion.  It  takes  ground  on  every  chara6lcr  and 
condition  that  appertains  to  man,  and  blends  the  individual,  the  na- 
tion, and  the  vrorld. 

From  a  fmall  fpark  kindled  in  America,  a  flame  has  arifen,  not  to 


11  I  G  H  T  S     OF     MA  N.  193 

(bee^ctinguifiu'd.  V/ithout  conUimIng,  like  the  ulti.'.m failorfgum, 
it  vyiiuls  its  progrefs  from  nation  to  i-iatijn,.  and  co'.Kjucrsby  a  Hhnt 
.  .operation.  Man  linds  liimfelf  changed,  lie  icarccly  perceives  liovv. 
•He  acquires  a  kaovvIt;d,;e  of  his  riglitr,  by  attendin.';- juiliy  to  i;:s  '1:1- 
tercfl:,  and  difcovers  in  the  event  that  thq  Rrength  and  ^-owers  of  def- 
pctifm  confill  wholly  in  the  fear  of  reuiling  it,  ai:d  that,  in  order 
*'  to  he  free  ^  it  is  fujjic'unt  thai  he  to  11  Is  ii.'' 

Having  in  all  the  preceding  parts  of  this  work  endeavoured  to  cPcab- 
lifh  a  fylicm  of  principles  as  a  baiis  en  wlrich  governments  ought  to 
,beere61:cd  ;  I  fiiall  proceed  in  this,  to  the  ways  and  means  of  veneer- 
ing them  into  practice.  But  in  order  to  introduce  this  part  of  the 
fubjecl  with  more  propriety,  and  (Ironger  e&ft,  fome  preliminary 
obfervations,  deducible  from,  or  connecled  with,  thofe  principles,  are 
neceffary. 

Y/hatever  the  form  or  ccnftitution  of  government  may  be,  it  o'.ight 
Xo  have  no  other  obieci  tliaa  the  p-c'/zi^/W  hap'jinefs.  Vviien,  inilead 
of  this,  it  operates  to  create  and  increafe  wretchedjiefs  in  any  of  the 
parts  of  fociety,  it  is  on  a  wrong  fyilem,  and  refonr.ation  is  neceffary. 
.,  Ciillomary  language  has  clafurd  the  sponditicn  of  n^an  under  the  two 
defcriptions  of  civilized  and  uncivilized  life.  To  tlse  one  it  has  af- 
cribed  felicity  and  airluence  ;  to  the  otiier,  hardfiup  snd  \v«mt.  But 
however  our  imagination  may  be  imprelfed  by  painting  and  compari* 
foiij  it  is  neveithclcfs  true,  that  a  great  portion  cf  mankind,  in  what 
are  called  civilized  countries,  arc  in  a  itate  of  poverty  and  wretched- 
nefs  far  below  the  condition  of  an  Indian.  I  fpeak  not  of  one  conn- 
try,  but  of  all.  It  is  fo  in  England,  it  is  fo  all  over  Europe.  Let 
us  enquire  into  the  caufe. 

■  It  hes  not  in  any  natural  defcd  in  the  principles  of  civilization, 
bat  in  preventing  thofe  principles  ha«ng  an  univerfal  operation  ;  the 
confequence  of  which  is,  a  perpetual  fyftcm  of  war  ar.d  expence,  that 
drains  the  coun::ry,  and  defeats  the  general  felicity  of  u-hich  civiliza- 
tion is  capable. 

All  tlie  European  governments  (France  now  excepted)  are  con- 
llruciied,  not  on  the  principle  of  univerfal  civilization,  but  on  the  re- 
vcnc  of  it.  wSc)  far  as  thofe  goverair.cnts  relate  to  each  other,  they 
are  in  the  fame  condition  as  we  conceive  of  lavage  uncivilized  life  • 
they  put  themfelves  be-yond  the  law  as  well  of  God  as  of  man,  and 
are,  with  rcfpeit  to  principle  and  reciprocal  condad,  hke  fo  many  in- 
dividuals in  a  ftate  of  nature. 

The  inhabitants  of  every  country,  under  the  civilization   of  law?, 
c-a%  civilize  together  j   but  governments  being  yet  in  an  uncivilized 
Vol.   ir.  C  c 


194  PAINE's    WORKS. 

ftate,  anJ  almoft  continually  at  war,  they  pervert  the  atundariCC  which 
civilized  life  produces,  to  carry  on  the  uncivilized  part  to  a  greater 
extent.  By  thus  engrafting  the  barbarifm  of  government  upon  the 
internal  civilization  of  a  country,  it  draws  from  the  latter,  and  more 
efpeciaily  from  the  poor,  a  great  portion  cf  thofe  earnings,  which 
fliould  be  applied  to  their  o;vn  fubuftence  and  comfort. — Apart  from 
all  reflections  of  morality  and  philofophy,  it  is  a  melancholy  fa6t,  that 
more  than  one-fourth  of  the  labour  of  mankind  is  annually  confumed 
by  this  barbarous  fyftem. 

What  has.ftrved  to  continue  this  evil,  is  the  pecuniary  advantage, 
which  all  the  governments  of  Europe  have  found  in  keeping  up  this 
ftate  of  uncivilization  It  affords  to  them  pretences  for  power  and 
revenue,  for  which  there  would  be  neither  occafion  nor  apology,  if 
tlie  circle  of  civilization  were  rendered  compleat.  Civil  government 
alone,  or  the  government  of  laws,  is  not  produ6tive  of  pretences  for 
many  taxes  ;  it  operates  at  home,  direclly  under  the  eye  of  the  coun- 
try, and  precludes  the  poinbihty  of  much  impofition*  But  when  the 
fcene  is  laid  in  the  uncivilized  contention  of  governments,  the  field  of 
pretences  is  enlarged,  and  the  country,  being  no  longer  a  judge,  is 
.©pen  to  every  impofition  v.'hich  governments  plonfe  to  act. 

Not  a  tliirtieth,  fcarccly  a  fortieth  part,  of  the  taxes  which  are 
raifed  in  Enoland,  are  either  occafioncd  by,  or  applied  to,  the  pur- 
•pofes  of  civil  government.  It  is  not  difiicult  to  fee,  that  the  v.hole 
which  the  aclual  government  does  in  this  refpe6l,  is  to  enact  laws, 
and  that  the  country  adminifters  and  executes  them,  at  ics  own  ex- 
pence,  by  m.eans  of  magiftrates,  juries,  felTions,  and  aflize,  over  and 
.above  the  taxes  which  it  y>3.js» 

In  this  view  of  the  cafe,  we  have  two  diflinft  chara6lers  cf  govern- 
ment; the  one,  the  civil  govefnment,  or  the  government  of  laws, 
Avhich  operates  at  home  ;  the  other,  the  court  or  cabinet  government, 
which  operates  abroad  on  the  rude  plan  of  uncivilized  life  ;  the  one 
attended  with  little  charge,  the  other  with  boundlefs  extravagance  ; 
and  fo  diilin£l  are  the  tvv'o,  that  if  the  latter  were  to  fink,  as  it  were 
by  a  fudden  opening  of  the  earth,  and  totally  difappear,  the  former 
would  not  be  deranged.  It  v.ould  ftill  piocccd,  becaufe  it  is  the 
common  intereft  of  the  nation  that  it  (hould,  and  all  the  means  are 
in  practice. 

Revolutions,  then,  have  for  their  obie6l,  a  change  in  the  moral 
condition  of  governments,  and  with  this  change  the  burden  of  public 
taxes  will  leffen,  and  civilization  will  be  left  to  the  enjoyment  of 
that  abundance,  of  which  it  is  now  deprived. 


R  I  G  H  T  S     O  F    M  A  N.  195 

Tn  contemplating  the  whole  of  this  fubjc*5i:,  I  extend  my  views 
into  the  department  of  commerce.  In  all  my  pubhcations,  where 
the  matter  would  admit,  I  have  been  an  advocate  for  commerce,  be- 
caufe  I  am  a  friend  to  its  effedls.  It  is  a  pacilic  fyftem,  operating  to 
cordialize  mankind,  by  rendering  nations,  as  well  as  individuals,  ufeful 
to  each  other.  As  to  mere  theoretical  reformation,  I  have  never 
preached  it  up.  The  moft  cfTeftual  procefs  is  that  of  improving  the 
condition  of  man  by  means  of  his  intereft  ;  and  it  is  on  this  ground 
that  I  take  my  {land. 

If  commerce  were  permitted  to  a61:to  the  univerfal  extent  it  is  ca- 
pable, it  would  extirpate  the  fyftem  of  war,  and  produce  a  revolution 
in  the  uncivilized  ftate  of  governments.  The  invention  of  commerce 
has  arifen  fince  thofe  governments  began,  and  is  the  greateft  approach 
towards  univerfal  civilization;  that  has  yet  been  made  by  any  means 
not  immediately  flowing  from  moral  principles. 

Whatever  has  a  tendency  to  promote  the  civil  intercourfe  of  na- 
tions, by  an  exchange  of  benefits,  is  a  fubje6l  as  worthy  of  philofo- 
phy  as  of  politics.  Commerce  is  no  other  than  the  traffic  of  two  in- 
dividuals, multiplied  on  a  fcale  of  numbers;  and  by  tlie  fame  rule  that 
nature  intended  the  intercom  fe  of  two,-  flie  intended  that  of  all.  For 
this  purpofe  fhe  has  diflributed  the  materials  of  m.anuf'ictures  aiid 
commerce,  in  various  and  diPcant  parts  of  a  nation  and  of  the  world  ; 
and  as  they  cannot  be  procured  by  war  fo  cheaply  or  fo  commo- 
dioufly  as  by  commerce,  flie  has  rendered  the  latter  the  means  of  ex- 
tirpating the  former. 

As  the  two  are  nearly  the  oppofites  of  each  other,  confequently, 
the  uncivilized  ftate  of  European  governments  is  injurious  to  com- 
merce. Every  kind  of  deftru6tion  or  embarraffinent  feives  to  leflen 
the  quantity,  and  it  matters  but  little  in  what  part  of  the  commercial 
world  the  reduction  bep-ins.  Like  blood,  it  cannoi  be  taken  from 
any  of  the  parts,  without  being  taken  from  the  whole  m-.ifs  in  circu- 
lation, and  all  partake  of  the  lofs.  When  the  ability  in  ar.y  nation 
to  buy  isdeftroyed,  it  equally  involves  the  feller.  Could  the  govern- 
ment of  England  deftroy  the  commerce  of  all  otlicr  nations,  flie 
would  moft  efteftually  ruin  her  own. 

It  is  poflible  that  a  nation  may  be  the  can-ier  for  the  world,  but 
fhe  cannot  be  the  merchant.  She  cannot  be  the  feller  and  the  buyer 
of  her  own  merchandize.  The  ability  to  buy  muft  rcfde  out  of 
herfelf ;  and,  therefore,  the  profperity  of  any  commercial  nation  is 
regulated  by  the  profperity  of  the  reft.     If  they  arc  poor,  flie  cannot 


iq6  P  a  r  N  E"3    W  C  II  ks. 


y 


be  rfcii  ;    rrd  her  condition,    be  it  \vhi;t  it  maj?   is  an  index  of  tii<r 
height  of  the  commercial  tide  \vi  other  natior.r;. 

Thr.t  the  principles  of  commerce,  andits  univcrfal  operation  mry 
he  iindenlood,  without  iinderilanding-  the  practice,  is  a  polilion  that  • 
I'eafon  wiJ  not  deny;  and  it  is  on  this  ffrcund  ciily  tliat  I  argue  I'ne 
fubjecl:.  It  is  one  thing-  in  the  couriting-horfe,  in  the  world  it  ig- 
another.  "Witli  refpecl;  to  its  operation,  it  mufl:  neccfTarily  be  con- 
templated as  a  reciprocal  tliin^'r, .  that  orjly  one  half  its  powers  refides 
within  tlie  nation,  and  that  th.e  whole  is  as  efi'evS^ually  deftroytd  bv 
deftroYinfr  the  \vAj  tiiat  refides  without,  as  if  the  d-i'icrLiC-uon  had 
Ijeen  committed  on  that  wbich  is  willrn.  for  neithef  can  act  without 
the  other. 

\Yhen  \\\  the  lafi,  as  v.'e'I  as  in  n:;si^er  wars,  the  commerce  of 
iTLnrdand  funk,  it  was  becaiife  tb;e  ireneral  quantity  was  IcfFened  every 
where  ;  and  it  now  rifcs,  becauie  comnterce  is  'v.\  a  rifm?-  Hate  in 
every  nation^  If£nglandi  at  tin's  day,  imports  and  exports  more 
than  at  any  former  period,  the  nation  with  which  fne  trades  m.iifh 
necciTarily  do  the  fame;  her  imports  are  their  exports,  atid  "S-ce  ijcrfa. 

There  can  be  no  fuch  thing  as  a  nation  f^ourirnin;^  alone  in  com- 
mei*ce;  (lie  c?a-\  only  participate;  and  tlie  deRriiQion  or  it  in  any  part 
miifc  ncceiTarily  aficft  all.  Wlien,  therefore,  ^governments  are  at 
V,  ar,  the  attack  is  niadc  upon  tlie  commvon  -lock  of  commerces  and 
the  conlequence  is  the  lame  as  if  each  had  attacked  his  own. 

The  prefent  increafe  of  conimerce  is  not  to  be  attributed  to  md- 
niiters,  or  to  anv  political  contrivances,  but  to  its  own  natural  ope- 
i-aiions  in  confequence  of  peace.  The  regular  n.iarkets  liad  been 
deilroYed,  the  cliannel-^  of  trade  broken  up,  the  h-ifjh  road  of  the  feas^ 
infefied  .^.v-ith  robbers  of  every  nation,  and  the  attention  of  the  world 
called'  to  other  cb;':ets.  Thofe  interruptions  have  ceafed,  and  peace 
has  rcilorcd  the  de^-aiyc^ed  condition  of  things  to  their  proper  order.* 

It  is  worth  remarkirjg,    tliat  every  nation   reckons  the  balance  of 

''^'  In  Asncricn^  the  uwfwrfe  of  commerce  is  greater  hi  priJ,orlio7i  thdn 
in  EngldncL  It  is,  cS  this  thne,  at  leajl  one  Ijalf  Viiore  tljon  at  any  period 
prior  io  the  rsvoluiicn.  The  greateft  ininihcr  of  "jrffels  cleared  out  of  the 
por'.  of  Philadelphia^  before  ihz  commencement  of  the  ivar,  tvas  hetivan 
tight  raid  nine  hundred.  In  the  year  1788,  the  v.iinihcr  ivcs  up'zvards  of 
iivelce  hundred.  As  the  fate  of  Piiinfyl-oania  is  cjiimaicd  as  an  n^hthi 
part  of  the  Uiiiled  S'ates  in  p'pidaticn,  the  zvhoIc'nii?nl>'cr  of  ve/pds'Wu'^ 
now  he  nearly  ten  thoufinl. 


RIGHTS     OF    MA  N.  197 

trade  in  Its  own  favour;  Lind  therefore  fometbing  muH  be  irregular  in 

the  common  ideas  upon  this  fubjeft- 

The  faft,  however,  is  true,  according  to  what  is  called  a  balance^ 

and   it    is  from   this  caufe   that  commerce  is  univerfally  fupp6rted. 

Every  nation  feels  the  advantage,  or  it  would  abandon  the  praftice  ; 

But  the  dec-pt!on  lies  in  tlie  mode  of  making  up  the  accounts,  and 

in  attributing  what  are  called  profits  to  a  wrong  caufe. 
'Mr.  Pitt  has  fometimes  amufed  himfelf,  by  fuewing  what  he  called 

a.balr^nce  of  trade  from  the  cullom-houfe  books.  This  mode  of  cal- 
culation, not  only  affords  no  rule  that  is  true,  but  one  that  is  falfe. 
in  the  firfl;  place,  every  cargo  that  departs  from  the  cupLom  houfe, 
appears  on  the  books  as  an  export  ;  and  according  to  the  cufcom- 
houfs  balance,  the  loffes  at  fea,  and  by  foreign  faiiurej;,  are  all  reckoi:ed 
on  the  fide  of  the  profit,  becaufe  they  appear  as  exports. 

Secondly,  Becaufe  the  importation  by  the  fm.ugghng  trade  does  not 
appear  on  the  cullom-houfe  books,  to  arrange  againlt  tlie  exports. 

No  balance,  therefore,  as  applying  to  fuperior  advantages,  can  be 
dr-iv/n  from  thefe  docum.ents;  and  if  we  examine  the  natural  operation 
of  commerce,  the  idea  is  fallacious;  and  if  true,  would  foon  be  inju- 
rious. The  great  fupport  of  commerce  confifts  in  the  balance  being  a 
level  of  benefits  amon^:  all  nations. 

Two  merchants  of  diiTercnt  nations  trading  together,  will  both  be- 
conie  rich,  and  each  makes  the  balance  in  his  own  favour  ;  confc-. 
quently,  they  do  not  get  rich  out  of  each  other ;  and  it  is  the  fame 
with  rcfpedl  to  the  nations  in  which  they  refide.  Tlie  cafe  mult 
be,  that  each  nation  mull  get  rich  out  of  its  own  m.eans,  and  increafc 
that  riches  by  fomething  v/liich  it  procures  from  anotlier  in  exchange. 
If  a  merchant  in  England  fends  an  article  of  EnguHi  manufadurc 
abroad,  which  colls  him  a  fliiliing  at  home,  and  imports  fomething 
which  fells  for  tv.-o,  he  makes  a  balance  of  one  fuuilng  in  his  own 
favour  :  But  tiiis  is  not  gained  out  of  the  foreign  nation  or  the  fo- 
reign merchant,  for  he  alfo  does  the  fame  by  the  article  he  receives, 
and  neither  has  a  balance  of  advantage  upon  the  other.  The  ori- 
ginal value  of  the  two  articles  in  their  proper  countries  v.-cre  but  two 
{hillings  ;  but  by  changing  their  places,  they  acquire  a  new  idea  of 
value,  equal  to  double  what  they  had  at  firll,  and  that  increafcd 
value  is  equally  divided. 

There  is  no  otherwife  a  balance  on  foreign  than  en  domellic  com- 
merce. The  merchants  of  London  and  Newcaflle  trade  on  the  fame 
principles,  as  if  they  refided  in  dilferen':  nations,  and  make  their  ba- 
lances in  the  famiC  manner  :     Yet  London  does  not  get  rich  out  of 


193  PAINE's     WORKS. 

Nevvcaflle,  sny  more  than  Newcaftle  out  of  London  :  But  coals, 
the  merchandize  of  Neu'callle,  have  an  additional  value  at  London, 
and  London  merehandize  has  the  fame  at  Nevvcaflle. 

Though  the  principle  of  all  commerce  ic  the  famiC,  the  domeftic,  in 
^  national  view,  is  the  part  the  mod  benehcial;  becaufe  the  whole  of 
the  advantages,  on  both  hdes,  reft  within  the  nation  ;  whereas,  in 
fjreign  commerce,^  it  is  only  a  participation  of  one  half. 

The  moll  unprofitable  of  all  commerce  is  that  connected  with  fo- 
rci''n  domi-iion.  To  a  few  individuals  it  may  be  beneficial,  m.erely 
bccaiifc  it  is  comm.erce ;  but  to  the  nation  it  is  a  lofs.  The  expence 
of  maintaining  dominion  more  than  abforbs  the  profits  of  any  trade. 
It  does  not  increafe  the  general  quantity  in  the  world,  but  operates 
to  lelTcn  it  ;  and  as  a  greater  mafs  v/ould  be  afloat  by  relinquifliing 
dominion,  the  participation  without  the  estpence  would  be  mere  ya- 
Inable  than  a  greater  quantity  witli  it. 

But  it  is  impoiable  to  ingrofs  commerce  by  dominion  ;  and  there- 
fore it  is  flill  more  fallacious.  It  cannot  exift  in  confined  channels, 
and  neceffarily  breaks  out  by  regular  or  irregular  means  that  defeat 
the  attempt  and  to  fucceed  would  be  flill  worfe.  France,  fince  the 
^evolution,  has  been  m.ore  than  indifferent  as  to  foreign  poffefTions;  and 
other  nations  will  become  tlic  fame,  when  they  invelligate  the  fubjedl 
with  refpedt  to  commerce. 

To  the  expence  of  dom.inion  is  to  be  added  that  of  navies,  and 
when  the  amount  of  the  two  is  futbraC^ed  from  the  profits  of  com- 
merce, it  will  appear,  that  what  is  called  the  balance  of  trade,  even 
admitting  it  to  exift,  is  not  enjoyed  by  the  nation,  but  abforbed  by 
the  government. 

The  idea  of  having  navies  for  the  protection  of  commerce,  is  delu- 
five.  It  is  putting  the  means  of  deftruclion  for  the  means  of  pro- 
tc6lion.  CommiCrce  needs  no  other  proteclion  than  the  reciprocal 
interefl  which  every  nation  feels  in  fupporting  it — it  is  common  flock 
— it  exifls  by  a  balr.nce  of  advantages  to  all ;  and  the  only  interrup- 
tion it  meets,  is  f;om  the  prcfent  uncivilized  flate  of  governments, 
and  whii-h  it  is  its  com.mon  interefl  to  reform.* 

7V/ji'n  Ifa-w  Mr.  Put's  made  of  tji'imat'ing  the  balance  of  trade,  in  on: 
of  his  parliamentary  fpeechcsy  he  appeared  to  me  to  Inoiv  nothing  of  the 
nature  and  interrfc  of  commerce ;  and  no  man  has  more  luantonly  tortured 
it  than  hhnfef.  During  a  period  of  peace  ^  it  has  been  havocked  tuith  the 
ctdaviitles  cf  ivar.  Three  times  has  it  been  ihrcivn  into  jlagnation^  and 
the  vffels  unmanned  by  imprefing,    luiihin  lefs  than  four  years  of  peace. 


R  I  G  li  T  S    OF    IvI  A  N.  199 

Q_>iittlng  tills  fubjeft,  I  now  proceed  to  other  matters. — As  it  is 
necefTar)^  to  include  England  in  the  profpecSl  of  a  general  reformation, 
it  is  proper  to  enquire  into  tlie  defects  of  its  government.  It  is  only 
by  each  nation  reforming  its  own,  that  the  whole  can  be  improved, 
arid  the  full  benefit  of  reformation  enjoyed.  Only  partial  advantages 
can  flow  fi-om  p:irtial  reforms. 

France  and  England  are  the  only  tuo  countries  in  Europe  v^'here 
a  reformation  in  government  could  have  fuccefsfully  begun  The  one 
fecure  by  the  ocean,  and  the  other  by  the  immenfjty  of  its  internal 
ilrength,  could  defy  the  malignancy  of  foreign  dcfpotifm.  But  it  is 
wiih  revolutions  as  with  commerce,  the  advantages  increafc  by  their 
becoming  general,  and  double  to  eitlier  v;hat  each  would  receive: 
alone. 

As  a  new  fyflem  is  now  opening  to  the  viev;  of  the  world,  the  Eu- 
ropean courts  are  plotting  to  counteract  it.  Alliances,  contrary  to 
all  former  fyflems,  are  agitating,  and  a  common  intevell:  of  courts  is 
forming  againft  the  common  intereft  (jf  man.  Tlie  com.bination  draws 
a  line  that  runs  throughout  Europe,  and  prefents  a  caufe  fo  entirely 
new,  as  to  exclude  all  calculations  from^  former  cfrcnmftances.  V/hile 
defpotifm  warred  with  defpotifm,  man  h.id  no  intereil  in  the  contefl; 
but  in  a  caufe  that  unites  the  foldier  with  the  citizen,  and  nation  with 
nation,  the  defpotifm  of  courts,  though  it  feels  tlie  danger,  and  medi- 
tates revenge  is  afraid  to  llrike. 

No  queftion  has  arifen  within  the  records  of  hiflory  that  prefTed. 
with  the  importance  of  the  prcfeat.  It  is  not  whether  this  or  that 
party  fliall  be  in  or  out,  or  whig  or  tory,  or  high  or  low  fliall  prevail; 
but  whether  man  fhall  inherit  his  rights,  and  univerfalcivihzation  take 
place?  Whether  the  fruits  of  his  labour  fhall  be  enjoyed  by  himfelf,  or 
confumed  by  the  profligacy  of  governm.ents?  Whether  robbery  Ihall  be 
laanifhed  from  courts,  and  wretchednefs  from  countries  ? 

WHien,  in  countries  that  are  called  civilized,  we  fee  age  goino- to 
the  work-houfe,  and  youth  to  the  gallows,  fomethin^g  mud  be  wrono* 
in  the  fyftem  of  government.  It  would  feem,  by  the  exterior  ap- 
pearance of  fuch  countries,  that  all  was  happincfs;  but  there  lies  hid- 
den from  the  eye  of  common  obfervation,  a  mafs  of  wretchednefs  that 
has  fcarcely  any  other  chance,  than  to  CKpire  in  poverty  or  infamy. 
Its  entrance  into  life  is  marked  with  the  prciage  of  its  fate ;  and  until 
this  is  remedied,  it  is  in  vain  to  puniih. 

Civil  government  does  not  exiO,  in  executions  ;  but  in  making  that 
provifion  for  the  inflrudlion  of  youth,  and  the  fupporfc  of  age,  as  to 
exclude,  as  much  as  poCTible,   profligacy  from  the  one,  and  defpair 


20O  PAINE's     V/OllKS. 

from  thz  other.  Inilead  of  this,  the  refources  of  a  counLiy  are  la- 
vi'ihed  upon  kings,  upon  courts,  upon  hirelings^  impoilors  and 
profiiLUtcs;  and  even  the  poor  themfelves,  with  all  their  \v?.nti; 
upon  ihem,  are  compelled  to  fupport  the  fraud  that  opprefies.  them. 
.:  Vv'hy  is  it,  that  fcarcely  any  are  executed  but  the  poor  ?  The  facl 
13,  a  proof,  among  other  things,  of  a  wretchednefs  in  their  condition. 
Ered  up  without  morals,  and  call  upon  the  world  without  a  profpedl, 
they  are  the  expofed  facrilice  of  vice  and  legal  barbarity.'  The  mil- 
lions that  are  fiiperfluouHy  wafled  upon  governments  are  more  than 
fuilicient  to  reform  thofe  evils,  and  to  benefit  the  condition  of  every 
man  in  a  nation,  not  includedw^ithin  the  purlieus  of  a  court.  This 
1  hope  to  make  appear  in  the  prcgrefs  of  this  work. 

It  is  the  nature   of  compaflion  to   afTociate  with  m.isfortune.      Ja 

-twking  up  this  fubjeft  I  feek  no  recompence— I;fear  no  confequence. 
Fortified  with  that   proud  integrity,  that  difdains  to  triumph  or  to 

■  yield,  I  will  advocate  the  rights  of  m.an. 

It  is  to  my  advantage  that  I  ha^-e  ferved  an  apprenticcfhip  to  lii^?. 

•  I  know  the  value  of  moral  inflruftion,  and  I  have  feen  the  danger  of 

.  the  contiary. 

At  an  early  period,  little  more  than  fixtecn  years  of  age,  ravr  and 

.adventurous,  and  heated  with  the  falfe  heroifm  of  a  miafter  *  v/ho  had 
ferved  in  a  man  of  war,  I  began  the  carver  of  my  own  fortune,  and 
entv:red  on  board  the  Terrible  privateer,  captain  Deatli.      From  this 

•adventure  I  was  happily  prevented  by  the  affedlionate  and  m.oral.re- 
monilrance  of  a  good  father,  vv^ho,  from  his  own  hv-ibits  of  life,  being 
of  the  O'^'sker  profefFion,  mull  begin  tolcokiipon  m.e  as  loil.  But 
the  impreiTion,  much  as  it  eiTe£led  at  the  tim^e,  began  to  wear  away, 
and  I  entered  afterwards  in  the  King  of  Prufiia  privateer,  captain 
Mendez,  and  Vv-ent  with  her  to  fca.  Yet,  from  inch  a  beginning, 
and  with  all  tlie  inconvem'ence  of  early  hfe  againfl   me,   I  am  proud 

,  to  fay,  that  with  a  perfeverance  undifmayed  by  difTici.lties,  a  difmter- 
eilednrrs  that  compelled  refpecl,  I  have  not  only  contributed  to  raife  a 
new  empire  in  the  v/orld,  founded  on  a  new  fyllem  of  government, 

.  but  I  have  arrived  at  an  eminence  in  political  literature,  the  moll  dif- 
ficult of  all  lines  to  fucceed  and  excel  in,  which  arillocracy,  with  all  its 

aids,  has  not  been  able  to  reach  or  to  rival. 

Knowing   my  own  hearty  and  feeling  myft-lf,  as  I  now  do,  fupe- 
rior  to  all  the  f:<:irmifli  erf  party,  the  inveteracy  of  interelled  or  mif- 

*    Rcv.  inilh???  KnczvIcS)  :nif}cr  cf -he  grammar  fchool  ofThetfordy 
in  Norfolk. 


RIGHTS    OF    MA  K.  sot 

talceii  opponents,    I  anTwer  not  to  falfcf'iood  or  abufe,  biit  proceed  to 
^e  defe£ls  of  tUe  Englifh  govtrnment.* 

*  PoI/:ics  and filf-lnierefi  ha've  hcen  f)  ur'ifyrml^  conncCled^  thai  tie 
tvorldy  from  being  fn  of, en  ikceiv:d,  has  a  right  to  he  f if p'l clous  of  puUk 
characters  :  hut  <wlih  regard  to  viyfAf  I  am  perfClIy  eafy  en  this  head, 
Ididnotalniyjir/!f::t'nirroutlnpiihlic  llf\  nearly f'venieen  years  agOy 
tarn  my  thoughts  to  fuljecls  of  go-v eminent  from  motives  of  ir.terej  ;  and 
my  condu3from  that  moment  to  this,  proves  the  fact.  I  faiu  an  opportu- 
nity,  In  tvhlch  I  thought  I  coidd  do  f  me  good ^  and  I  fJlo-ived  exaBly 
Kohat  my  heart  dlHated.  I  neither  read  books,  nor  f nulled  other  people's 
iplmons,      I  thought  for  mjf/f      The  cafe  was  this  : 

During  the  fufpenfwn  of  the  old  governments  In  Jmcr'ua,  loth  pr;or  ic, 
and  at  the  breaking  out  of  hofluttes,  I  was fl ruck  lukh  the  order  and  deco- 
rum tvtfh  which  every  thing  was  conducted  ;  and  Imprefed  with  the  idea, 
that  a  little  more  than  what  fociety  naturally  performed,  was  all  the  go- 
vemment  that  was  neceffary  ;   and  that  monarchy  and  arflocracy  were 
frauds  and  Imbofitlons  upon  m.anklnd.      On  thcfe  principles  I pulhfoed  the 
pamphlet  Common  Senfc.      Thcficcefs  It  met  with  was  beyond  any  thing 
fince  ili'C  Inveni'ion  of  printing.     I  gave  the  copy  right  up  to  every  fate  in 
the  union,  and  the  demand  ran  to  not  Itfs  than  one  hundred  thovfand  copies. 
I  continued  the  fuhjeit  In  the  fame  manner,  under  doe  title  q/'The  Cnfis, 
//*//  the  complete  cflalUfhmevt  of  the  revolution. 

After  the  declaration  of  Independence,  Congrefs  unhnlm.ovjJy,  and  im- 
known  to  me,  atpolnted  me fecretqry  In  the  foreign  department.  This  was 
cgreeahle  to  me,  becaufe  It  gave  me  the  opportunity  of  feeing  into  the  alill- 
tles  of  foreign  courts,  and  their  manner  of  doing  hufnefs.  But  a  mlfun- 
derflandlng  arlfing  between  Congrefs  and  mc,  ref petting  one  of  their  com- 
mlffloners,  then  in  Europe,  Mr.  Silas  Deane,  I  rejlgned  the  office,  and 
declined.,  at  the  fame  time,  the  pecuniary  o^ers  made  me  by  the  mlnijlers  of 
France  and  Spain,  M.  Gerard  and  Don  yuan  Mlrralles. 

I  had  by  this  tlmefo  completely  gained  the  ear  and  confidence  of  America^ 
and  my  cwn  Independence  tuas  become  fo  vifible  as  to  give  m.e  a  range  in 
political  writing,  beyond,  perhaps,  what  any  man  ever  poffffed  In  anv 
country  ;  and  what  is  more  extraordinary,  I  held  It  undlmlnljhed  to  the  cnd^ 
of  the  war,  and  enjoy  It  In  the  fame  manner  to  the  prefnt  moment.  As 
my  object  <was  not  myfelj",  I fet  out  with  a  determination,  and  happily  with 
the  difpofitlon,  of  not  being  moved  by  praife  or  cenfure,- frlendjljlp  or  caluni' 
ny,  nor  of  being  drawn  from  my  purpofe  by  any  perfonal  altercation  : 
The  man  who  cannot  do  this,  is  not  fit  for  a  public  character* 

When  the  war  ended,    I  went  from  Philadelphia  to  Bordeniown,   on 

VoL.'Il.  Dd 


2C2  r  A  I  N  E  '  s    W  O  R  K  S. 

■I  begin  with  charters  nnd  corporations. 

It  IS  a  perverfion  of  terms  to  fay,  that  a  charter  gives  rights.  It 
operates  hy  a  contrary  efFeifi:,  that  of  taking  rights  away.  Rights 
are  inherently  in  all  the  inhabitants;  but  charters,  by  annulling  thofc 
rights  in  the  majority,  kave  the  right  by  exclufion  in  the  hands  of  a 

the  eajl  lanh  of  the  Delatvare,  ivhere  I  have  a  fm  ill  place.  Congrefs 
'zvas  ct  this  time  at  Pjj^e-Tojvnj  ffteen  miles  d'ljlant ;  and  General 
J'/ aJJj'wgton  had  taken  his  head-quarters  at  Rochy-H'dl,  ivithln  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Congrefs,  for  the purpofe  of  rejign'ing  up  his  commiffon  (the 
arjeB  for  zvhich  he  accepted  it  being  accomplijhed,)  and  of  retiring  to  pri- 
vate life.  IVhile  he  luas  on  this  bufinefs,  he  ivrote  me  the  letter  -u  hich  I 
here  fubjoin, 

Rocky-Hill,  Sept.  10,1783. 
/  have  learned Jince  I  have  been  at  this  place,  that  you  are  at  Borden- 
ioivn.      JVhcthcr  for  the  fake    of  retirement  or  economy,    I  knoiv  not. 
Be  it  for  either,  for  both,  or  'iuhatever  it  may,  if  you  'u:ill  come  to  this  place^ 
and  partake  "juith  me,  IJJjall  be  exceedingly  happy  to  fee  you  at  it. 

■J.  our  pnfence  may  remind  Congrefs  of  your  pojl  fervices  to  this  country  ; 

and  if  it  is  in  my  poiuer  to  imprefs  them,  command  my  beji  exertions  <zvith 

freedom,  as  they  will  be  rendered  chearfully  by  one,  tvho  entertains  a  lively 

fenfe  of  the  importance  of  your  tvorks,  and  luho,  iviih  much  pleafure,  fub- 

fcribes  himfelf. 

Tour  fincere  friend^ 

G.  Wa  s  h  I  n  g  ton. 

During  the  ■war  in  the  latter  end  of  the  year  I  780,  I  fanned  to  myftlf 
a  difign  <jf  coming  over  to  England ;  and  communicated  it  to  General 
Greene,  who  was  then  in  Philadelphia,  on  his  route  to  the  fouthivard. 
General  Wafcington  being  then  at  too  great  a  diflance  to  communicate  ivilh 
immediately.  I  was  Jlrongly  imprejfed  with  the  idea,  that  if  I  could  get 
over  to  England,  without  being  kno^vn,  and  only  remain  in  fafety  till  I 
could  get  -out  a  publication,  that  I  could  open  the  eyes  of  the  country  with 
rcfpecl  to  the  madnefs  and  flupidity  of  its  government.  I  faw  that  the 
parties  in  Parliament  had  pitted  themf elves  as  far  as  they  could  go,  and 
could  make  no  new  hnprejfions  on  each  other.  General  Greene  entered  fully 
into  my  views  ;  but  the  ajfair  of  Arnold  and  Andre  happening  jiiji  after  ^^ 
he  changed  his  mind,  and,  under  Jlrong  apprehenfwns  for  my  fafety,  wrote 
very  prejfingjy  to  me  from  Annapolis,  in  Maryland,  to  give  up  the  dejigny 
which,  wiihfome  reluctance,  I  did.  Soon  after  this  I  accompanied  Colonel 
Laurens,  fan  of  Mr.  Laurens,  who  was  then  in  the  Tower,  to  France,  on 
bjj.nefs  from  Congrefs.  JVe  landed  at  L^ Orient ;  and  while  I  remained 
there,   he  being  gone  forward,  a   eircumjlance  occurred,  that  renewed 


R  I  G  H  T  S     O  F    M  A  N.  203 

f^w.  If  charters  were  conftrufted  fo  as  to  exprefs  in  direfl  terms, 
*'  f/jai  ev^ry  hihah'itcnt,  ivho  is  not  a  7nembcr  of  a  corporahon^  ^PoaU  not 
*'  excrcifc  the  right  of  ijol'tng^^^  fuch  charters  would  in  tlie  face  be  char- 
ters, not  of  rights,  but  of  exclufion.  The  effect  is  the  fame  under 
the  form  they  now  iland ;  and  the  only  perfons  on  v/hom  they  operate, 
are  the  perfons  whom  they  exclude.  Thofe  v/hofe  rights  are  guaran- 
teed, by  not  being  taken  away,  exercife  no  other  rights,  than  as 
members  of  the  community  they  are  entitled  to  without  a  charter  ; 
and  therefore,  all  charters  have  no  oilier  than  an  indiredt  negative 
operation.  They  do  not  give  rights  to  A,  but  they  make  a  differ- 
ence in  favour  of  A  by  taking  away  the  right  of  B,  and  confequently 
are  inllruments  of  injufticc. 

But  charters  and  corporations  have  a  more  extenfive  evil  elTetfl^, 
than  what  relates  merely  to  cleftions.  They  are  fources  of  endlefs 
contention  in  the  places  where  they  ex  ill: ;  and  they  leffen  the  common 
rights  of  national  fociety.  A  native  of  England,  wnder  the  operation 
ofthefe  charters  and  corporations,  cannot  be  faid  to  be  an  Englidiman 
in  the  full  fenfe  of  the  word.      He  is  not  free  of  the  nation,  in  the 

my  former  dcfign.  An  EngJfJj  packet  from  Falmouth  to  Neiu-  7'orl^ 
iv'ith  the  government  dif patches  on  hoard y  luas  brought  into  L^ Orient, 
That  a  packet  P^ould  he  laJien^  is  no  extraordinary  thing  ;  hut  that  tlic  df- 
patches  ffjould  be  taken  nvilh  it,  nvill  fcarcely  be  credited^  as  they  are  al- 
ivays  flung  at  the  cabin  nvindotv,  in  a  bag  loaded  ivith  cannon  hall,  and 
ready  to  he  funk  at  a  mzr.icnt.  The  fact,  hutuever,  is  as  I  hanieflaied  it, 
for  the  difpatches  came  into  my  hands,  and  I  read  them.  The  capture, 
as  I  IV as  informed,  fuccecdcd  by  the  foUo^a}ing  flratagem  : — 1  le  captain 
of  the  Madame  privateer,  zvhofpoke  Engl'fh,  on  coming  up  ivith-  the  pac- 
ket, paffed  himf  elf  for  the  captain  of  an  Enghflj  frigate,  and  invited  the 
captain  of  the  packet  on  hoard,  ivhich,  tvhen  done,  he  fcnt  fome  of  his  oct'/z 
hands  hack,  and  fecured  the  mail.  But  he  the  circumflance  of  the  capture 
lunat  it  may,  I  f peak  tvith  certainty  as  to  the  government  difpatches..  They 
ivere  fent  up  to  Paris,  to  Count  Vergennes,  and  'ivhen  Colonel  Laurens 
and  myfclf  returned  to  America,  ive  took  the  originals  to  Congrefs. 

By  thcfe  difpatches  I  faiu  into  theflupidiiy  of  the  Engliflo  cabinet,  far 
more  than  I  otherivife  could  have  done,  and  I  reneived  my  former  defign. 
But  Colonel  Laurens  luas  fo  un  ic  illing  to  return  alone,  inore  efpccially, 
.  as  among  other  matters,  ive  had  a  charge  of  up<ivards  of  tnvo  hundred 
tliouf and  pounds  ft  crling  in  money,  that  I  gave  into  his  ivijles,  and  finally 
gave  up  my  plan.  But  I  am  noiv  certain,  that  if  I  could  have  executed 
it,  that  it  luoiild  not  have  been  altogether  urfuccefsfuL 


204  PA  I  NE's     W  O  H  K  S. 

fame  nRnncr  that  a  Fi-enchraan  is  free  cf  France,  and  an  American 
of  America.  Kis  rights  are  circumlcribed  to  the  town,  and,  in  fomc 
cafeis,  to  the  pariili  of  his  birth  ;  and  all  otlier  parts,  though  in  his 
native  land,  are  to  him  as  a  foreign  conntry.  To  acquire  a  refidence 
in  thefe,  he  mufl  undergo  a  local  naturalisation  by  inrrchafe,  or  he  is 
forbidden  or  exnelied  the  place.  This  fpecies  of  feudality  is  kept 
up  to  aggraiicizc  the  cor\>orationG  at  the  ruin  cf  towns;  and  the  eflcd: 
is  viiible. 

The  generality  of  corporation  towns  are  in  a  ftate  of  fclitary  decay, 
and  prevented  from  farther  ruin,  only  by  fom.e  circumllance  in  their 
fituation,  fucli  as  a  navigable  rfver,  or  a  plentiful  furrounding  country. 
As  population  is  one  of  the  chief  fources  of  vvealch  (for  without  it 
land  itfelf  has  no  value),  every  thing  which  operates  to  prevent  it  mull 
leffen  the  value  of  property  ;  and  as  corporations  have  not  only  this 
tendency,  but  dirtclly  this  effect,  they  cannot  but  be  injurious.  If 
any  policy  were  to  be  followed,  inftead  of  that  of  general  freedom ,^  to 
every  perfon  to  fettle  where  he  chofe  (as  in  1  ranee  or  /America),  it 
v;ouId  be  more  confillent  to  give  enccurapcment  to  new  comers, 
than  to  preclude  their  admiillon  by  exacting  piemiums  from  them.* 

The  perfons  moll  imnicdiately  fnterefted  in  the  abolition  of  corpo* 
rations,  are  tlie  inhabitants  of  the  towns  where  corporations  are  edab- 
liiTicd.  The  iniiances  of  luancheiler,  Birmingliam,  and  Sheffield, 
{\)C',\',  by  contrad,  the  injury  which  thofe  Gothic  inftitutions  are  to 
property  and  coumicrce.  A  few  examples  may  be  found,  fuch  r.^ 
that  of  London,  whoie  natural  and  commercial  advantage,  owing  to 
its  fituation  on  the  Thames,  is  capable  cf  bearing  up  againil  tl»e  poli-' 
tical  evils  of  a  corporation  j  but  in  almoit  all  other  cafes  the  fatality 'is 
too  vifible  to  be  doubti^d  or  denied. 

■*  //  :s  difficult  to  account  for  the  cr':gm  cf  charter  and  ccrpcrrjicn 
iocvrsy  unlt'fs  'voc Juppnje  thsm  to  ha-ve  anfcn  out  of  or  been  cGtiuetlcd  iviih, 
fomc  fpscics  of  garrifon  ftri'iccs.  The  times  intvhich  th^ylcgan  jijlfy. 
this  idea.  The  gencra'd'y  of  ihnfe  totons  hauc  been  gar rf oris  audi,  the  cvr- 
torathns  ivcre  charged  tahh  the  care  rf  the  gates  cf  the  io'wtis,  luhen  tm 
jn'd'itary  garrlfon  ixiai  prcfent.  Their  refijirg  or  granting  adw'ffjion-  to  flran-' 
^erSf  ivh'ich  has  produced  the  cvflcm  of  g'lvwg,  fclluig  and  bhy:rg  freedoriiy 
has  more  of  the  nature  of  garnfon  authonly  than  c'liul go'oernment.  ooU 
d'ltrs  are  free  of  alt  corporations  throughout  the  nation,  ly  the  fame  pro- 
fr'i^ly  that  foery  foldler  is  free  cf  every  gar  rf  on,  and  no  other  perfons  are. 
lie  can  foUo'w  any  employment,  'with  the perrn'fji.jn  f  his  risers,  in  anxx 
i'.r^cration  toivn  ihrcf'-'hc-ui  the  natter-. 


RIGHTS     OF    MAK.  20^ 

-  -  Though  the  whole  nation  is  not  fo  direaiy  afFefted  by  the  depref- 
lion  of  property  in  corporation  towns  as  the  inhabitants  thcmfelves,  it 
partakes  of  the  confequence.  By  IclTening  the  value  of  property, 
the  quantity  of  national  commerce  is  curtailed.  Every  man  is  a  cul- 
tomer  in  proportion  to  his  ability  ;  and  as  all  parts  of  a  nation  trade 
with  each  other,  vrhatever  affefts  any  of  the  parts,  muil  neceifarily 
comniuaicate  to  the  whole. 

As  one  of  the  houfes  of  the  Englifn  parliament  is,  in  a  great  mea- 
furc,  made  up  of  eledions  from  thefe  corporations;  and  as  it  is  unna- 
tural that  a  pure  llream  would  How  from  a  foul  fountain,  its  vices  are 
but  a  continuation  of  the  vices  of  its  origin,.  A  man  of  moral  honour 
and  good  political  principles,  cannot  fubmit  to  the  mean  drud;;ery 
and  difgraceful  arts,  by  which  fiich  ele6lions  are  carried.  To  be  a 
fuccefsful  candidate,  he  muil  be  deilitute  of  the  qualities  that  conliii- 
tute  a  juil  legiflator  :  And  being  tlius  difciplined  to  corruption  by 
the  mode  of  entering  into  parliament,  it  is  not  to  be  expetled  that 
the  reprefentative  fliould  be  better  than  the  man. 

Mr.  Burke,  in  fpeaking  of  the  Englifh  reprefentation,  has  ad- 
vanced as  bold  a  challenge  as  ever  was  given  in  the  days  of  chivalry. 
<•  Our  reprefentation,"  fays  he,  *'  has  been  found  pcrfinly  adequate 
t{:  to  all  ihe  purpoji'S  fur  v/hich  a  reprefentation  of  the  people  can  be 
H/defired  or  devif-d.  I  defy,"  continues  he,  "  the  enemies  o:  our 
*f.,  conftitution  to  dievv  the  contrary."  This  declaration  from  a  man, 
who  has  been  in  conllant  oppolition  to  all  the  meafures  of  parliament 
the  whole  ol  his  political  life,  a  year  or  two  excepted,  is  mod  extra- 
ordinary ;  and  comparing  him  with  himfelf,  admits  of  no  other  alter- 
native, than  that  he  ailed  againd  his  judgment  as  a  member,  or  h:;a 
declared  contrary  to  it  as  an  author. 

But  it  is  not  in  the  reprefentation  only  that  the  defects  lie,  ani 
therefore  I  proceed  in  the  next  place  to  arillocracy. 

What  is  called  the  hoafe  of  peers,  is  conllituted  on  a  ground  very 
fimilar  to  that,  againll  which  there  is  a  law  in  other  cafes.  It  amou.r^ 
to  3  combination  of  perfons  in  one  common  interefl.  No  reafon  caa 
be  given,  v.hy  an  houfe  of  legiilation  fnould  be  compofcd  entirely  of 
men  whofe  occupation  confills  in  letting  landtrd  property,  than  wliy 
it  fliould  be  compofed  of  thofe  v/ho  hire,  or  of  brev.-ers,  or  bakers,  or 
anv  other  feparate  clafs  of  men. 

Mr.  Burke  calls  this  houfe,  "  the  great  ground  and pULir  of  JlcurJy 
*'  to  the  landed  IntcnJ}:'      Let  U2  examine  this  idea. 

What  pillar  of  fecurity  does  the  landed  intereH  require  more  than 
any  other  inter;:!!:  in  the  ilr.tc,  or  what  right  ha:-  it  to  a  diilinil  and 


2o6  P  A  I  N  E  's     V\'"  O  R  Iv  S. 

feparate  reprefentation  from  the  general  intcreR  of  a  nation  ?  T.ie 
only  ufc  to  be  made  of  this  power,  (and  which  it  has  always  made), 
is  to  ward  ofF  taxes  from  itfelf,  and  thnnv  the  burden  upon  fuch  arti- 
cles of  confumption  by  which  itfelf  would  be  leail:  affefted. 

That  this  has  been  the  confeqnencc  (and  will  always  be  the  con- 
feqiience  of  conpLrufting-  governments  on  combinalions),  is  evident 
with  refpeft  to  England,  from  the  liiitory  of  its  taxes. 

Notwithiianding  taxes  have  increafed  and  multiplied. upon  every 
article  of  common  confumption,  the  land-tax,  which  more  particularly 
'aifefts  this  "  pillar,'*  has  diminifhcd.  '  In  1788,  the  amount  of  the 
land-tax  was  ^/\i;950,oco,  v>'hich  is  half  a  million  Icis  tlian  it  pro- 
duced ahnoil:  an  hundred  years  ago,^^  notwithiianding  the  rentals 
are  in  many  inilanccs  doubled  fince  that  period. 

Before  the  comw'ng  of  the  Hanoverians,  the  tax:s  were  divided  in 
nearly  equal  proportions  between  tb.e  land  and  articles  of  confumip- 
tion,  the  land  bearing  rather  the  largtfl  fiiarc  ;  but  fmce  that  era, 
nearly  thirteen  millions  annually  of  new  laycs  have  been  thrown  upon 
confumption.  The  confeouence  of  which  has  been  a  conilant  in- 
creafe  in  the  numiber  and  wretchednefs  of  the  poor,  and  in  the  amount 
of  the  poor-rates.  Yet  liere  again  the  burden  does  not  fall  in  equal 
3)roportions  on  the  ariftocracy  v/ith  the  reft  of  the  community.  Their 
refidences,  whether  m  town  or  country,  arc  not  mixed  with  the  ha- 
bitations of  the  poor.  They  live  apart  f.om  diPcrefs,  and  the  expence 
of  relievino-  it.  It  is  in  manufaftiirinp-  towns  and  labouring-  vilWcs 
that  thofe  bardcns  prefs  the  heaviell  ;  in  many  of  v/hich  it  ic  one 
clafs  of  poor  fupporting  another. 

Several  of  the  mofi  heavy  and  p"^rocu(51ivc  taxes  are  fo  contrived,, 
as  to  give  an  exemption  to  tliis  pillar,  tnu3  tlandinrr  in  its  own  defence. 
Tiie  tax  upon  beer  brewed  for  fr.le  does  not  affeCf  the  ariftocracy, 
who  brew  their  own  beer  free  of  this  duty.  It  falls  only  on  thofe 
\(lio  have  not  conveniency'or  ability  to  brew,  and  v.dio  muil  purchafe 
it  in  fmall  quantities.  But  what  v/ill  mankind  think  of  the  jullice  of 
taxation,  when  they  know,  that  this  tax  alone,  from  which  the  arif- 
tocracy are  from  circunvHances  exempt,  is  nearly  equal  to  the  whole 
<;f  the  had  tax,  l;ei::g  in  the  year  1788,  and  it  is  not  lefs  now, 
J^^.i,C66,i^2y  and  with  its  proportion  of  the  taxes  on  malt  and  hops, 
it  exceeds  it. — That  a  fmgle  articL^,  thus  partially  confumed,  and 
that  chiefly  by  the  working  part,  fnould  be  lubjedl  to  a  tax,  equal  to 

^    S^^  S'r  Jj/:ti  ShL:!a}r's  H^ory  cf  the  Rcvsnm.      The  hvid-L-.x   in 


RIGHTS    OF    MA  N.  207 

that  oa  tne  vvliol^  rsntiil  of  a  nation,  is,  peihaps,  a  faclnot  to  be  pa- 
ralleled ill  the  hiftories  of  revenues.   . 

This  is  one  of  the  confcquences  refulllng  from  an  houfe  of  legn']?.- 
tion,  cornpofed  on  the  ground  of  a  combination  of  common  intereiT: ; 
for  whatever  their  feparate  politics  as  to  parties  may  be,  in  this  they 
are  united.  Whether  a  combination  a^ls  to  raifc  the  price  of  any 
article  for  fale,  or  the  rate  of  vrao-es  :  or  whether  it  adls  to  throw 
taxes  from  itfelf  upon  another  clafr.  of  the  community,  the  principle 
and  theefrecl:  are  the  fame  :  And  if  the  one  be  illegal,  it  will  be  dili- 
cult  to  fhevv  that  the  other  ought  to  exiil:. 

It  is  no  ufe  to  fay,  that  taxes  are  firll  propofed  in  the  houf^  of 
commons;  for  as  the  ether  houfe  has  always  a  negative,  it  can  always 
defend  itfelf;  and  it  would  be  ridiculous  to  fuppofe  that  its  acquief- 
cence  in  the  meafares  to  be  propofed  were  not  underilood  before  hand* 
Befides  i.rh'ch,  it  has  obtained  [o  much  influence  by  borough-traffic, 
and  fo  many  of  its  relations  and  connections  are  dillributed  on  both 
fides  of  the  commons,  as  to  give  it,  befidea  an  abfolute  negative  in  the 
Koufe,  a  preponderancy  in  the  other,  in  all  matters  of  common  con- 
cern. 

It  is  difficult  to  difcover  what  is  meant  by  the  landed  Interejl,  if  it 
does  not  mean  a  combination  of  ariftocratical  land-holders,  cppofmg 
their  ov/n  pecuniary  intereft  to  that  of  the  farm.er,  and  every  branch 
of  trade,  commerce,  and  mannfadurc.  In  all  other  rcfpecls  it  is  the 
only  intereft  that  needs  no  partial  protection.  It  enjoys  the  general 
proteftion  of  the  world.  Every  individual,  high  or  low,  is  ratereiled 
in  the  fruits  of  the  earth  ;  men,  w^omen,  and  children,  of  all  ages  and 
degrees,  will  turn  out  to  affilt  the  farmer,  rather  than  a  harveft  fhould 
not  be  got  in ;  and  they  will  not  act  thus  by  any  other  property.  It 
is  the  only  one  for  which  the  common  prayer  of  mankind  is  put  up, 
and  the  only  one  that  can  never  fi\il  from  the  want  of  means.  It  is 
the  intereft,  not  of  the  policy,  but  of  the  exlftence  of  man,  and  when 
it  ceafes,  he  muft  ceafe  to  be. 

No  other  intereft  in  a  nation  ftands  on  the  fame  united  fupport. 
Commerce,  manufaftures,  arts,  fcienccs,  and  every  thing  elfe,  coni- 
pared  with  this,  are  fupported  but  in  parts.  Their  profperity  or 
their  decay  has  not  the  fame  univerfal  influence.  When  the  vallies 
laugh  and  fmg,  it  is  not  the  farmer  only,  but  all  creation  that  re- 
joices. It  is  a  profpe.-ity  that  excludes  ail  envy  ;  and  this  cannot  be 
faid  of  any  thing  elfe. 

Why  then  does  Mr.  Burke  talk  of  his  houfe  of  peers,  as  the  pil- 
lar of  the  landed  intereft  I    Were  that  pillar  to  fink  into  the  earthy 


2ca.  TAINE's    WORKS. 

tlie  fame  landed  property  would  continue,  and  the  fame  ploughing, 
fovving,  and  reaping  would  go  on.  The  ariftocracy  are  not  the  far- 
mers who  work  the  land,  aad  raife  the  produce,  but  are  the  mere 
confumers  of  the  rent ;  and  when  compared  with  the  adive  world, 
are  the  drones,  a  feraglio  of  males,  who  neither  coUeA  the  honey  nor 
form  the  hive,  but  exifl  only  for  lazy  enjoyment. 

Mr.  Burke,  in  his  firft  efiay,  called  arifcccracy,  "  the  Corinthian 
*^  capital  of  polifiedfociety''  Towards  completing  the  figure,  he 
has  new  added  l\it  pillar  ;  but  ftiil  the  bafe  is  wanring  ;  and  v/hen- 
ever  a  nation  choofes  to  aft  a  Sampfon,  not  blind,  but  bold,  down 
go  the  temple  of  Dagon,  the  lords  and  the  Phililllnea. 

If  a  houfe  of  leglfiation  is  to  be  compofed  of  m.enof  one  clafs,  for 
the  purpofe  of  prote6iing  a  dillincl  interell,  ail  the  other  intercHs 
/liould  have  the  fame.  The  inequality,  as  wtii  as  the  burden  of  tax- 
^ation,  arifes  fronfi  admitting  it  in  one  cafe,  and  not  in  all.  Kad  there 
been  an  houfe  of  farmers,  there  had  been  no  game  lav/s ;  or  ahoufc 
of  merchants  and  manufacturers,  the  taxes  had  neither  been  fo  un- 
equal nor  fo  excefiive.  It  is  from  the  power  of  taxation  being  in  the 
hands  of  thofe  who  can  throw  fo  great  a  part  of  it  from  their  own 
fhoulders,  that  it  has  rnred  without  a  check. 

Men  of  fmall  or  moderate  eilates,  are  more  injured  by  the  taxes 
being  thrown  on  articles  of  confumption,  than  they  are  eafed  by  ward- 
ing it  from  landed  property,  for  the  following  reafons: 

Firft,  they  confume  more  of  the  produftive  taxable  articles,  in  pro- 
portion to  their  property,  than  thofe  of  large  eftates. 

Secondly,  their  refidence  is  chiefly  in  towns,  and  their  property  in 
houfes ;  and  the  increafe  of  the  poor  rates,  cccafioned  by  taxes  on 
confumption,  is  in  much  greater  proportion  than  the  land-tax  has 
been  favoured.  In  Birminghami,  the  poor-rates  are  not  lefs  than 
feven  {hillings  in  the  pound.  From  this,  as  is  already  obferved,  the 
ariftocracy  are  in  a  great  meafure  exempt. 

Thefe  are  but  a  part  of  the  mifchiefs  flowing  from  the  wretched 
fcheme  of  an  houfe  of  peers. 

As  a  combination,  it  can  always  thrfiw,a  confiderable  portion  of 
taxes  from  itfelf ;  and  as  an  hereditary  hou'fe^' ^QlJWt&Me  to  nobody, 
it  refembles  a  rotten  borough,  whofe  confent  is  to  be  courted  by  in- 
tereft.  There  are  but  few  of  its  members,  who  are  not  in  fome  mode 
or  other  participators,  or  difpofers  of  the  public  money.  One  turnsi 
a  candle-holder,  or  a  lord  in  waiting  ;  another  a  lord  of  the  bed  cham- 
ber, a  groom  of  the  ftole,  or  any  infignificant  nom.inal  office,  to  which 
^  falary  is  annexed,  paid  out  of  the  public  taxes,  and  which  avoids  the 


R  I  G  H  T  3    O  F    M  A  N.      ,  5o0 

lijrecl.  appearance  of  corruption.  Such  fituations  are  derogatory  ta 
the  chara(5^er  of  man  ;  and  where  they  can  be  fubmitted  to,  honour 
cannot  refide. 

'  To  all  thefe  are  to  be  added  the  numerous  dependants,  the  long 
lift  of  youflger  branches  and  diftant  relations,  who  are  tg  be  provided 
for  at  the  public  expence  :  In  (hort,  were  an  eftimation  to  be  made 
•f  the  charge  of  ariftocracy  to  a  nation,  it  will  be  found  nearly  equal 
to  that  of  fupportlngthe  poor.  The  duke  of  Richmond  alone  (and 
there  are  cafes  fimilar  to  his)  takes  away  as  much  for  himfelf,  as 
would  maintain  two  thoufand  poor  and  aged  psrfons.  Is  it,  tlien, 
any  wonder,  that  under  fuch  a  fyftem  cf  government,  taxes  and  rates 
have  multiplied  to  their  prefent  extent  ? 

In  ftating  thefe  matters,  I  fpeak  an  open  and  dirmterefled  lan- 
guage, dictated  by  no  paiuon  but  that  of  hum.anity.  To  me,  who 
have  not  only  rcfufcd  offers,  becaufe  I  thought  them  improper,  but 
have  declined  rewards  I  niight  with  reputation  have  accepted,  it  is  no 
wonder  that  meannefs  and  impofition  appear  difguftiul.  Indepen- 
dence Is  my  happinefs,  and  I  view  things  as  they  are,  without  regard 
to  place  or  perfon  ;  my  country  Is  the  world,  and  my  religlcn  is  to 
do  good. 

Mr.  Burke,  in  fpeaking  of  the  ariftocratical  law  of  primogeniture^ 
fays,  "  It  Is  the  ftanding  law  of  our  landed  inheritance  ;  and  which, 
**  v/Ithout  queftion,  has  a  tendency,  and  I  chink,'*  continues,  he, 
**  a  happy  tendency,  to  preferve  a  chara6ler  of  v.-eight  and  conie- 
**  qucnce.'* 

Ml'.  Burke,  may  call  this  law  what  he  pleaffs,  bwt  humanity  and 
impartial  refledion  will  denour.  .  •  it  a  law  cf  brutal  injuftice.  Were 
we  not  accL}ftomed  to  the  daily  practice,  and  did  we  only  hear  of  it 
as  the  law  of  fome  diftant  part  of  the  world,  we  ftiould  conclude  that. 
the  leglilators  of  fuch  countries  had  not  yet  arrived  at  a  ftate  <3f 
civilization. 

As  to  preferving  a  charaf^er  of  'weight  and  confequcnc",  the  cafe  ap- 
pears to  me  dlreflly  the  reverfe.  It  is  an  attaint  upon  character  ;  a 
fort  of  privateering  en  family  property.  It  may  have  weight  among 
dependant  tenants,  but  it  gives  none  on  a  fcale  of  nations!,  and  m.uch 
lefs  of  univerfal  charadler.  Speaking  for  m.yfelf,  my  parents  were  not 
able  to  give  me  a  fiiilling,  beyond  what  they  gave' me  in  education  ; 
^nd  to  do  this  they  diftreffed  themfelves ;  yet,  I  poflefs  more  of  what 
is  called  confequence,  in  the  world,  than  any  one  in  Mr.  }3urkc's  ca- 
talogue of  ariftocrats. 

Having  thus  glanced  at  feme  of  the  defects  cf  the  two  houfea  of 
Vol.  it,  E  e 


3  lo  V  A  I  N  E  '  s    WORK  S. 

parliament,  I  proceed  to  wliat  is  called  the  crown,  upon  which  I  fhal! 
be  very  concife. 

It  figniiies  a  nominal  ofnce  of  a  million  flerling  a  year,  the  bufmefs 
of  which  confifts  in  receiving  the  money.  Whether  the  perfon  be  wife 
or  foohfh,  fane  or  infane,  a  native  or  a  foreigner,  m^atters  not.  Every 
miniilry  afts  upon  the  Hime  idea  that  Mr.  Burke  writes,  namely,  th-att 
the  people  mud  be  hood-^winked,  and  held  in  fuperftitious  ignorance 
by  fome  bugbear  or  other;  and  what  is  called  the  crov/n  anfvvers  this 
purpofe,  and  therefore  it  anfwers  all  the  purpofes  to  be  expefted 
from  it.     This  is  more  than  can  be  faid  of  the  other  two  branches. 

The  hazard  to  which  this  office  is  expofed  in  all  countries,  is  not 
from  any  thing  that  can  happen  to  the  man,  but  from  what  may  hap-, 
pen  to  the  nation,  the  danger  of  its  coming  to  its  fenfes. 

It  has  been  cuftomary  to  call  the  crown  the  executive  power,  and 
the  cuftom  is  continued,  though  the  reafon  has  ceafed. 

It  was  called  the  execudvCf  becaufc  the  perfon  whom  it  fignified  ufed 
fcrm^erlv,  to  fit  in  the  charafter  of  a  judge,  in  adrainiitering  or  exe- 
cutin-T  the  laws.  The  tribunals  were  then  a  part  of  the  court.  The 
power,  therefore,  v/hich  is  nov%^  called  the  judicial,  is  what  was  called 
the  executive  ;  and,  confequently,  one  or  other  of  the  terms  is  redun- 
dant, and  one  of  the  oIHces  ufelefs.  When  we  fpeak  of  the  crowu 
r.ow,  it  means  nothing ;  it  fignifies  neither  a  judge  nor  a  general :  Be- 
fidcs  vv'hich,  it  is  the  laws  that  govern,  and  not  the  m.an.  The  old 
terms  are  kept  up,  to  give  an  appearance  of  confequence  to  empty 
forms  ;    and    the  only   efiecl  they  have    is   that   of  increafmg   ex- 

pences. 

Before  I  proceed  to  the  means  ^,f  rendering  governments  more 
conducive  to  the  general  happinefs  of  m.ankind,  than  they  are  at  pre- 
fent,  it  will  not  be  improper  to  take  a  review  of  the  progrefs  of  tax- 
ation in  England. 

It  is  a  general  idea,  that  when  taxes  arc  once  laid  on,  they  are  ne- 
ver taken  ofF.  However  true  this  may  have  been  of  late,  it  was  not 
always  fo.  Either,  therefore,  the  people  of  former  times  were  more 
watchful  over  governnient  than  thofe  of  the  prefent,  or  government 
was  admlnilleved  with  lefs  extravagance. 

It  is  now  feven  hundred  yeavs  fmce  the  Norman  conqueil,  and  the 
tftablifhment  of  what  is  called  the  crown.      Taking  this  portion  of 
time  in  feven  feparate  periods  of  one  hundred  years  each,  the  amount 
of  the  annu-al  taxes,  at  each  period,  will  be  as  follows  : 
Annual  amount  of  taxes  levied  by  William  the  conqueror, 

beginning  in  the  year  1066,  £,^cOjQ0Q 


-RIGHTS    OF    MAN.  211 

Annual  amount  of  taxes  at  one  Imodred  years  from  the 

conqueft,   (1166)  ^^.200,000 

Annual  amount  of  taxes  ?X  two  hundred  years  from  the 

conqueft,   (1266)  150,000 

Annual  amount  of  taxes  at  three  hundred  years  from  the 

conqueft,   (1366)  130,000 

Annual  amount  of  taxes  at  four  hundred  years  from  the 

conqueft,   (1466)  ico,ooo 

Thefe  ftatements,  and  thofe  which  follow,  are  taken  from  fir  John 
Sinclair's  Hiftory  of  the  Revenue  ;  by  which  it  appears,  that  taxes 
continued  decreafing  for  four  hundred  years,  at  the  expiration  of  which 
time  they  were  reduced  three-fourths,  viz.  from  four  hundred  thou- 
fand  pounds  to  one  hundred  thoufand.  The  people  of  England  of 
the  prefent  day,  have  a  traditionary  and  hiftorical  idea  of  the  bravery 
of  their  anceftors;  but  v/hatever  their  virtues  or  their  vices  might  have 
been,  they  certainly  were  a  people  v.ho  would  not  be  impofed  upon, 
and  who  kept  government  in  awe  as  to  taxation,  i£^ot  as  to  principle. 
Though  they  were  not  able  to  expel  the  monarchical  ufurpation,  they 
reftri6led  it  to  a  republican  economy  of  taxes. 

Let  us  now  review  the  remaining  tliree  hundred  years. 
Annual   amount  of  taxes  at   five  hundred  years  from  the 

conqueft,   (1566)  ;^.5CC,OQO 

Annual  amount  of  taxes  at  fix  hundred  years  from  the 

conqueft,   (1666)  '  i, 800,000 

Annual  amount  of  taxes  at  the  prefent  time,   ( 1 791 )        1 7,000,000 

The  difference  between  the  firft  four  hundred  years  and  the  laft 
three,  is  fo  aftoniftiing,  as  to  warrant  an  opinion,  that  the  national 
character  of  the  EnghTn  has  changed.  It  would  have  been  impof- 
fible  to  hr.ve  dragooned  the  former  Engliih,  into  the  excefs  of  tax- 
ation that  now  exifts ;  and  when  it  is  confidered  that  the  pay  of  the 
army,  the  navy,  and  of  all  the  revenue-ofScers,  is  the  fame  now  as  it 
was  above  a  hundred  years  ago,  when  the  taxes  w^ere  not  above  a 
tenth  part  of  what  they  are  at  prefent,  it  appears  impclTibJe  to  ac- 
count for  the  enormous  increafe  and  expenditure,  on  any  other  grounds 
than  extravagance,  corruption,  and  intrigue.*- 

*  Several  of  ths  court  nenvfpapers  ha've  of  late  made  frequent  mention 

^  Wat  T^ler.      That  his  memory  fJjould  he  traduced  by  court  fycophants, 

and  all  thofe  nvho  Irjs  on  the  fpo'tl  of  a  public^    is  not  to  be  (wondered  at^ 

He  ivas,  hoivrver,   the  means  of  checking  the  rage  and  injufiice  of  taxa- 

■  tlm  in  his  time^  and  the  nation  oivcd  much  to  hi^  'valour.      The  hijlory  k 


9iz  l^AINE^s     WORKS. 

WIlIi  the  revolution  of  1688,  and  more  fo  fmcc  the  Haaover  fuc- 
cefiion,  came  the  dellru(fi:ive  fyflem  of  continental  intrigues,  and  the 
rage  for  foreign  wars  and  foreign  dominion  ;  fyftems  of  fuch  fecure 
myRery  that  the  oipences  admit  of  no  accounts;  a  fmgle  line  {lands' 

e-oncif-Iy  this  : — ///  ih^  time  of  Richard  the  fcoud,  a  poll-tax  luas  levied^ 

of  one  fiilling  per  head,  upon  every  pci-fon  in  the  nation ,  of  iv  hat  ever  ejlate 

(pr  conditioriy   on  pocr  as  ivell  as  rich,   avo-ve  the  age  of  ffteen  years,      if 

ttny  favour  ivas  Jheiun  in  the  laiv,    it  ivas  fo  the  rich  rather  than  to  the 

poor ;  as  no  perfon  could  be  charged  mors  than  t^vcnty  jljilUngs  for  himfelf^ 

family  and  fervants,  though  ever  fo  numerous  ;    nubile  all  ether  famiheSy 

tinder  the  number  of  tivenryf  'tuere  charged  per  head.      Poll-taxes  had  aU 

*ivays  been  odious y  but  this  being  alfo  opprejftvc  and  vn'jujly  it  excited,  as  it 

naturally  mufl^  unlverfal  delefation  anwng  the  poor  and  middle  clajfcs.    The 

t>erfm  hnonvn  by  the  name  of  IVat  Tyler,  nvhofe  proper  name  was  Walter, 

und  a  tyler  by  trade  lived  at  Deptford,      The  gatherer  of  the  poll-tax.,  an 

coining  to  his  hoife<^  demanded  tax  for  one  of  his  daughters,  ivhcm  Tyler 

ceclared  ivas  under  the  age  cfffcen.      The  tax-gatherer  irjifled  onfatif 

fying  himfclf,  and  began  an  indecent  examhiati-on  of  the  girly  nvhich  enraging 

the  father,  he  Jl ruck  him  'with  a  hammer,  that  brought  him  to  the  ground, 

and  ivas  the  caufe  of  his  death. 

This  clrcumjiance  frvedto  bring  the  dlfcontents  to  an  ijfue.  The  inha- 
Intanls  of  the  neighbourlyood  efpoufed  the  caufe  of  Tyler,  ivho,  in  a  feiu 
days  ivas  joined,  according  tofome  hiflorians,  by  upivards  of  fifty  thoufand 
men,  and  chofen  their  chief.  With  this  farce  he  marched  to  London,  to 
demand  an  abolition  of  the  tax,  and  a  redrefs  of  other  grievances.  The 
court,  finding  itfelf  in  a  forlorn  condition,  and  unable  to  make  refijlancc, 
agreed,  ivlih  Richard  at  its  head,  to  hold  a  conference  ivith  Tyler  in 
Smithf.cld,  mahing  many  fair  prof  Jfions,  courtier  like,  of  its  dxfp>^ition  to 
redrefs  the  opprejjions.  While  Richard  and  Tyler  ivere  in  con'oerfation 
en  thefe  matters,  each  being  on  horfehack,  Wakoorth,  then  mayor  of  London; 
and  one  of  the  creatures  of  the  court,  ivatthed  an  oppor-iunity,  and  like  a 
coivardly  ajfajpn,  flabbed  Tyler  with  a  dagger ;  and  two  or  three  others 
falling  upon  hirUi  he  was  irjlantly  facrificed. 

Tyler  appears  to  have  been  an  intrepid  difintereflcd  vmn,  with  refpecl 
to  himfclf.  All  his  propofals  made  to  Richard,  were  on  a  more  jnjl  and 
public  ground,  thau  thofe  which  had  been  made  to  John  by  the  barons  ; 
and  notwithflandlng  the  fycophancy  of  hiflorians ,  and  men  like  Mr.  Burke-, 
who  feek  to  glofs  over  a  bafe  action  of  (he  court  by  traducing  Tyler,  Kts 
fame  will  outlive  their  falf  hood.  If  the  barons  merited  a  monument  ttf^bt 
tre^ed  in  Runnymede,  Tyler  merits  one  in  Smithjield. 


RIGHTS     OF    MAKt  zt^ 

for  millions.     To  what  excefs  taxation  might  hare  extended,  had  not 
the  French  revolution   contributed  to  break  up  the  fyflem,   and  put 
an  end  to  pretences,  is  impolTible  to. fay.     Viewed,  ar,  that  revolution 
ought  to  be,  as  the  fortunate  means  of  leilening  the  load  of  taxes  cf 
both  countries,  it  is  of  as  much  importance  to  England  as  to  France; 
and,  if  properly  improved  to  all  the  advantages  of  which  it  is  capable, 
and  to  which  it  leads,  deferves  as  much  celebration  in  one  country  as 
the  other. 

In   purfuing   this  fubjed,   I  fhall  begin  with  the  matter  that  firft 
prefents  itfelf,    that  of  lefTening  the  burden  of  taxes  ;   and  fiiall  then 
add  fuch  matters  and  propofitions,   refpefting  the  three  countries  of 
England,    France,   and  America,   as   the  prefenl  profpe6l  of  thing-s 
appears  to  jullify  ;   I  mean  an  alhance  of  the  three,  for  the  purpolcs 
that  will  be  mentioned  in  their  proper  place. 

What  has  happened  may  happen  again.      By  the  flatement  before 
fhewn  of  the  progrefs  of  taxation,  it  is  feen,  that  taxes  have  been  lef- 
fened  to  a  fourth  part  of  what  they  had  formerly  been.     Though  the 
•prefent  circumftances  do  not  admit  of  the  fame  reduftioii,  yet  they  ad- 
mit of  fuch  a  beginning,  as  may  accomplifh  that  end  in  lefs  time,  than 
in  the  former  cafe. 

The  amount  of  taxes  for  the  vear,    endincr  at  Michaelmas  1*^78, 
was  as  follows : 

Land  tax,         -  .  -  -  -         ^.1,950,000 

Cuftoms,  -  -         -  -  -         -         3,789,274 

Excife  (including  old  and  new  malt),  »  -  6,751,727 

Stamps,  ---.--.  1,278,214. 

Mifcellaneous  taxes  and  incidents,         -         -       .         ^S^Z^ISS 


Since  the  year  1788,  upwards  of  one  million,  new  taxes  have  been 
laid  on,  befides  the  produce  from  the  lotteries;  ?.nd  as  the  taxes  have" 
in  general  been  more  produ6liye  fmce  than  before,  the  axount  may  be 
taken,  in  round  numbers,  at  £.i'jyOCO,oco 

N.  B.  The  expence  of  colieftion  and  the  draw-backs,  wliich  toge- 
ther amount  to  nearly  two  millioiis,  are  paid  out  of  the  grofs amount; 
and  the  above  is  the  nett  fum  paid  into  the  exchequer. 

This  fum  of  feventeen  millions  is  applied  to  two  different  purpofes; 
the  one  to  pay  the  interefl  of  the  national  debt,  the  other  to  pay  the 
current  expences  of  each  year.  About  nine  millions  are  appropriated 
to  the  former  ;  and  the  remainder,  being  nearly  eiglit  millions',  to  tli^e 
latter.     As  to  the  million,  frtid  to  be  applied  to   the  rvduftion  of  the 


2T4  PAINE^s    Vv-ORKS. 

debt,  it  is  fo  much  like  paying  with  one  haPxd  and  taking  out  with  the 
other,  as  not  to  merit  much  notice. 

It  happened,  fortunately  for  France,  that  Pa&  poffeffed  national 
domains  for  paying  off  her  debt,  and  thereby  leflening  her  taxes;  but 
as  this  is  not  the  cafe  in  England,  her  reduction  of  taxes  can  only  take 
place  by  reducing  the  current  cxp^nces,  which  may  now  be  done  to 
the  amount  of  four  or  five  millions  annually,  as  will  hereafter  appear. 
When  this  is  accomplifl-sed,  it  wilnnore  than  counterbalance  the  enor- 
mous charge- of  the  American  war;  and  the  faving  will  be  from  the 
fame  fources  ^=ej«f  whence  the  evil  arofc. 

As  to  the  national  debt,  however  heavy  the  intcrefl  may  be  in  taxes, 
yet,  as  it  ferves  to  keep  alive  a  capital,  ufeful  to  commerce,  it  ba- 
lances by  its  eftetts  a  confiderable  part  of  its  own  weight;  and  as  the 
quantity  of  gold  and  hlver  in  England  h,  by  fome  means  or  other, 
(liort  of  its  proper  proportion*  (being  not  more  than  twenty  mil- 
lions,  w^hereas  it  (hould  be  fjxty),  it  would,  befides  the  injuilice,  be 
bad  policy  to  extinguifh  a  ca-  'tal  that  ferves  to  fupply  that  defc(5l. 
But  with  refpetfl:  to  the  cur  ""^nt  expence,  whatever  is  faved  there- 
from is  gain.  The  excefs  may  ferve  to  keep  corruption  alive,  but 
it  has  no  re-aftion   on  credit  and  comm.erce,  like  the  intercft  of  the 

tlCDt. 

It  is  now  very  probable,  that  the  Enghfn  government  (I  do  not 
mean  the  nation)  is  unfriendly  to  the  French  revolution.  Whatever 
ferves  to  expofe  the  intrigue  and  leffen  the  influence  of  courts,  by  lef- 
fenino-  taxation,  will  b'e  unwelcome  to  thofe  who  feed  upon  the  fpoil. 
Whilil  the  clamour  of  French  intrigue,  arbitrary  power,  popeq>  and 
•wooden  fnoes  could  be  kept  up,  the  nation  was  eafily  allured  and 
alarmed  into  taxes.  Thofe  days  are  now  part  ^  deception,  it  is  to  be 
hoped,  has  reajjed  its  lafi:  harvellji  and  better  times  are  in  profpetSt 
for  both  countries,  and  for  the  u-orld. 

Taking  it  for  granted,  that  an  alliance  m.ay  be  formed  between  Engr- 
land,  France,  and  America,  for  the  purpofes  hereafter  to  be  men- 
tioned, the  national  expences  of  France  and  England  may  confequently 
be  Icfrened.  The  fame  fleets  and  armies  will  no  longer  be  necefiary 
to  either,  and  the  redufiion  cm  be  made  fhip  for  fhip  on  each  fide. 
But  to  accomplifh  thefe  ob  eds,  the  governments  muil  necelfarily  be- 
fitted to  a  common  correfpondent  principle.  Confidence  can  never 
take  place,  while  an  hoftile  difpofition  remains  in  either,  or  where  myf- 

*  Foreign  intrigues,  foreign  ivars,  and  foreign  dominions^  ivill  in  a 
p-eai  msafure  dccovnt for  the  drfciency , 


RIGHTS     OF    MAN.  21^ 

tcry  and  fecrecy  on  one  fide,  is  oppofed  to  candour  and  opennefs  on 
the  other. 

Thefe  matters  admitted,  tlie  national  expences  mi^^ht  be  put  back, 
for  the  fake  of  a  precedenty  to  wliat  they  were  at  fome  period  wlieii 
France  and  England  were  not  enemies.  This,  confequently,  rauil  be 
prior  to  the  Pianover  fuccefiion,  and  alfo  to  the  revolution  of  1688.* 
The  lirft  inllance  that  prefents  itlVlf,  antecedent  to  tl-.ofe  dates,  is  in 
the  very  wafteful  and  profiigate  times  of  Char-es  the  fecond  ;  at  v.diich 
time  England  and  France  ailed  as  alh'es.  il  I  have  chofen  a  period 
of  great  extravagance,  it  will  fervc  to  fnew  modern  extravagance  in  a 
fiill  worfe  Hght;  efpecially  as  the  pay  of  the  navy,  the  army,  and  the 
revenue  officers  has  not  increafed  ilnce  that  time. 

The  peace  cila!)liniment  was  then  as  folio v/s  : — See  fir  John  Sin- 
clair's Hiilory  of  the  R.evenue. 

Navy,  -  -  -  ..  -  -  ^.300,000 

Army,  -  -  -  _  _  .  212,000 

Ordnance,  -  -  .  .  _  _         .  40^000 

Civil  Lilt,  -  ...  -  .  462,115 


^.1,014,115 

The  parliament,  however,  fettled  the  whole  annual  peace  cr^ablifli- 
tneiit  at  i,2oo,ooo.f     If  we  go  back  to  the  time  of  Elizabeth,  the 

*  /  happened  to  Is  in  England  at  the  celclraiicn  of  the  centenary  of  the 
rsvolutton  of  16S8.  The  charaSlcrs  of  W nil  am  and  Mary  have  always 
•appeared  to  me  detejlalle  ;  the  one  fck'ing  io  cl.flvcy  his  uncle^  and.  the  other 
her  father,  to  get  pojfjfion  of  power  thenfehes  ;  ysi,  as  the  nciticn  was 
dfpofed  to  think  fomethlng  of  that  event,  I  fdt  hurt  at  feeing  it  afcribe  the 
ivhole  rspiitathn  of  it  to  a  man  who  had  undtrtahn  it  as  a  job,  and  whoy 
hefides  what  he  other  wife  got,  charged  fix  hundred  thouf and  pounds  for 
the  expencs  of  the  little  fleet  that  brought  him  from  Holland.      George  the 

f.rjl  a6led  the  fame  chfefi/led part  as  Williavi  had  done,  and  bo'iight  the 
duchy  of  Brcmin  with  the  money  he  got  from  England,  two  hundred  and 

fifty   houfand pounds  over  and  above  his  pay  as  hing  ;   and  having  thus 

pur  chafed  it  at  the  expence  of  England,  added  it  to  his  Hanoverian  doml- 
nicns  for  his  own  private  profit.  In  fact,  ev^'ry  nation  that  dois  not  go- 
-jern  itfelf.   Is  governed  as  a  job.     England  has  been   the  prrj  of  jobs 

zverfince  the  revolution^ 

\  Charles,  like  his  predeccffors  and  fuccsffors,  fin  Ting   that  war  was 
the  harvefl  of  governments,    engaged  In    a  war   wi  th  the   Dutch,  the 

expence  of  wbkh  increafed  thi  annual  cxperjitiirc  io  ;^r,8oOjCOO  as 


ci6  PAINE's    AVORKS. 

amcur.t  of  all  the  taxes  was  but  half  a  million,  yet  the  nation  fees  no- 
thing during  that  period,  that  reproaches  it  with  want  of  confe* 
<]uence. 

All  circumllances  then  taken  together,  arifing  from  the  French 
revolution,  from  the  approaching  harmony  and  reciprocal  intereft  of 
the  two  nations,  the  abolition  of  court  intrigue  on  both  fides,  and  the 
progrefs  of  knowledge  in  the  fcience  of  government,  the  annual  ex- 
penditure might  be  pat  back  to  one  million  and  a  half,  viz, 

Navy,  -  -  -         ,  ,  .  ^.500,000 

Army,  -  -  -  _  «  500,000 

Expences  of  government,  -  -         ,     -  500,000 


^.1,500,000 
Even  this  fum  is  fix  times  gre?.tcr  than  the  expences  of  govern- 
ment are  in  America,  yet  the  civil  intefnal  government  of  England 
(I  mean  that  adminiltcred  by  m^ns  of  quarter  fefilons,  jurie?,  and 
afxize,  and  which,  in  x"a6t,  is  nearly  the  whole,  and  performed  by  the 
nation,)  is  lefs  Cxpence  Upon  the  re\tnue,  than  the  fame  fpecics  and 
poition  of  government  is  in  America.  • 

It  is  time  that  nations  fhould  be  rational,  and  not  be  governed  like 
animals,  for  the  pleafure  of  their  riders.  To  read  the  hiftory  of  kings, 
a  man  would  be  almoll  inclined  to  fuppofe  that  government  confilleca 
in  (lag  hunting,  and  that  every  nation  paid  a  million  a  year  to  the  huntf- 
man.  Man  ought  to  have  pride,  or  fname  enough  to  blufh  at  being 
thus  impofed  upon,  and  when  he  feels  his  proper  charafher,  he  will. 
Upon  all  fubjecls  of  this  nature,  there  iy  often  palling  in  the  mind,  a 
train  of  ideas  he  has  not  yet  accuilomed  himfelf  to  encourage  and 
communicate.  Reltrained  by  fomething  that  puts  on  the  character 
of  prudence,  he  acis  the  hypocrite  upon  himfelf  as  well  as  to  others. 
It  is,  however,  curious  to  obferve  how  foon  this  fpell  can  be  dilToIved. 
A  (ingle  expreffion,  boldly  conceived  and  uttered,  will  fometimes  put 
a  whole  company  into  their  proper  feelings,  and  whole  nations  arc 
2c\i:d  upon  in  the  fame  manner. 

As  to  the  offices  of  which  any  civil  government  may  be  compofed,- 

.  it  matters  but  little  by  what  names  they  are  defcribed.     In  the  rotinc 

©f  hufmefs,  as  before  obferved,  whether  a  man  be  flyled  a  prefident, 

a  king,  an  emperor,  a  fcnator,  or  any  thing  elfe,  it  is  impoffible  that 

any  fervice  he  can  perform,    can  merit  from  a  nation  more  than  teiu 

Jalrd  under   the  date  of   1866;   hut   the  ^cacc  eJlahVijlmcnt  ivas   ltd 
£1.206,000^ 


RIGHTS     OF    MAN.  217 

-tiioufand  pounds  a  year ;  and  as  no  man  fhould  be  p:iid  beyond  h'^ 
fervices,  fo  every  man  of  a  proper  heart  will  not  accept  n:ore.  Pub- 
lic money  ought  to  be  touched  with  the  moll  fcrupulous  confcioul'-t 
ncfs  of  honour.  It  is  not  the  produce  of  riches  only,  but  ol  the  hard 
e:irniugs  of  labour  and  poverty.  It  is  drawn  even  from  the  bittcrnef* 
of  want  and  mifery.  Not  a  beggar  pafles,  or  perillies  in  the  ftreets, 
whofe  mite  is  not  in  that  mafs. 

Were  it  pofllble  that  the  coiigrefs  of  America,  could  be  fo  loil  to 
their  duty,  and  to  the  intcrell  of  their  conftitucnts,  as  to  offer  general 
Wafhii^gton,  as  prefident  of  America,  a  million  a  year,  he  would  not, 
and  he  could  not,  accept  it.  His  fenfe  of  honour  is  of  another  kind. 
It  has  cod  England  almoil  feventv  millions  ilerlinc:,  to  maintain  a  fa- 
mily  imported  from  abroad,  of  very  inferior  capacity  to  thoufands  iJi 
the  nation  ;  and  fcarcely  a  year  has  pafTed  that  has  not  produced  fom.e 
new  mercenary  application.  Even  the  phyficians'  bills  have  been  fert 
to  the  public  to  be  paid.  No  wonder  that  jails  are  crowded,  and 
taxes  and  poor-rates  increafed.  Under  inch  fyllems,  nothing  is  to 
be  looked  for  but  what  has  already  happened  ;  and  as  to  reformation, 
whenever  it  comes,  it  mud  be  from  the  nation,  and  not  from  the  go- 
vernment. 

To  Ihew  that  the  fum  of  five  hundred  thoufand  pounds  is  more  than 
fuiUcient  to  defray  all  the  expences  of  government,  exclufive  of  na- 
vie;>  and  armies,  the  following  edimate  is  added  for  any  country,  of 
the  fame  extent  as  Enj^iand. 

.  In  the  fird  place,  three  hundred  reprefentatives,  faiiiy  elected,  are 
faflicient  for  all  the  purpofes  to  which  legiflation  can  apply,  and  pre- 
ferable to  a  larger  number.  They  may  be  divided  into  tv/o,  or  three 
lioufes,  or  meet  in  one,  as  in  France,  or  in  any  manner  a  condituticn 
fiiall  dired. 

As  reprefentation  is  always  confidered,  in  free  countries,  as  thz 
mod  honourable  of  all  dations,  the  allowance  made  to  it  is  merely  to 
defray  the  expence  v/hich  the  reprefentatiyes  incur  by  that  fervice, 
and  not  to  it  as  an  ofnce. 

If  an  allowance,  at  the  rate  of  five  hundred  pounds /d"/* 
ann.  be  made  to  every  reprefentativc,  deducing  for 
non-attendance,  the  expence,  if  the  whole  number 
attended  for  fix  nionths  each  year,  would  be  .f.   75,0c o 

The  official  departments  cannot  reafcv.?bly  exceed  the 
foUowinGT  number,  with  the  falaries  annexi:d! 


Carried  ovc'-/^.  7^,03^ 
Vol.  U.  Ff 


^i5  PAINE's     WORKS. 

BroiigM  over,            -        ^-           .           .           ^  /*.   75,00.^ 

Tliree  officer;,  at  ten  thoufand  pounds  each           -  30,000 

Ten  ditto,  at  five  thoufand  pounds  each          -  50,000 

Twenty  ditto,  at  two  thoufand  pounds  each           -  40,000 

Forty  ditto,  at  one  thoufand  pounds  each          -  40,000 

Two  hundred  ditto,  5t  five  hundred  pounds  each  lco,coo 

Three  hundred  ditto,  at  two  hundred  pounds  each  60,000 

■Five  hundred  ditto,  at  one  hundred  pounds  eacli  50,000 

Seven  hutidred  ditto,  at  feventy-five  pounds  each  52,500 

/•497'50c> 


ifa  nation  chtifes,  it  Cftn  deduci:  four/i-r  (T.'.v/.  from  all  offices,  and 
mAliP,  one  cf  twenty  ihoufavid />er  ann. 

All  revenue  officers  are  paid  out  of  the  monies  they  colkd^,  and 
therefore,  are  not  in  this  eiliiriation. 

The  foregoing  is  not  offered  as  an  exafl  detail  of  offices,  but  to 
/Iiew  the  number  and  rate  of  falaries  which  five  hundred  thoufand 
pounds  will  fupport;  and  it  will,  on  experience,  be  found  impradica- 
ble  to  find  bufinefs  fufficient  to  juftify  e^/en  this  expence.  As  to  the 
manner  in  which  office  bufinefs  is  now  performed,  the  chiefs,  in  feve- 
ral  offices,  fuch  as  the  pod-office,  and  certain  offices  in  the  exchequer, 
&ic.  do  little  more  than  fis"n  their  names  three  or  four  times  a  year; 
and  the  whole  duty  i.s  performed  by  under  clerks. 

Taking,  therefore,  one  million  and  an  half  as  a  fufficient  peace 
cflablifhmcnt  for  all  tlie  honeil  purpofes  of  government,  which  is 
three  hundred  thotifand  pounds  miore  than  tlie  peace  eilablifhment  m 
the  profligate  and  prodigal  times  of  Charles  the  fecond  (notwith- 
ftanding,  as  ha3  been  already  cbferved,  the  pay  and  falaries  of  the 
army,  na\'y,  and  revenue  officers,  continue  the  fame  as  at  that  pe- 
riod), there  will  remain  a  furplns  of  upwards  of  fix  millions  out  of 
the  prefent  current  expences.  The  quellion  then  will  be,  how  tQ 
difpofe  of  thio  furplns. 

Whoever  has  obferved  the  manner  in  which  trade  and  taxes  twifl 
themfclves  together,  mufl  be  fenfibie  of  the  impoffibility  of  feparating 
them  fuddenly. 

Firft,  Becaufe  the  articles  nov/  on  hand  arc  already  charged  with 
the  duty,  and  the  reduction  cannot  take  place  on  the  prefent  Hock. 

Secondly,  Becaufe,  on  ?\\  thofe  articles  on  v/hich  the  duty  is 
charged  m  the  grofs,  fuch  as  per  barrel,  hogfhead,  hundred  weightf 
Cr  tun,  the  abolition  of  the  duty  does  not  admit  of  being  divided 
down  fo  aa  fully  to  relieve  the  confumer,  who  purchafes  by  the  pint, 


RIGHTS     OF    MAN.  si^ 

»r  tli«  pound.  The  laft  duty  bid  on  ftrong  beer  and  ale,  was  three 
ffiilllngs/^r  barrel,  which,  if  taken  off,  would  lefTen  tbepurchafe  only 
half  a  farthing /w  pint,  and  confequently,  would  not  rc;ach  to  prac- 
tical relief. 

This  being  the  condition  of  a  greater  part  of  tl;c  taxes,  it  will  be 
neceffary  to  look  for  fuch  others  as  are  free  from  this  embarraffmcnt, 
and  where  the  relief  will  be  diredt  and  vifible,  and  capable  cf  immei- 
diate  operation. 

In  the  firll  place,  then,  the  poor-rates  are  a  direft  tax  wliich  evei-y 
houfe-keeper  feels,  and  who  Iinows  alfo,  to  a  farthing,  the  furn  v.'hich 
he  pays.  The  national  amount  of  the  v/hole  of  the  poor-rates  is  not 
pofitively  known,  but  can  be  procured.  Sir  John  Sinclair,  in  his 
Hiftory  of  the  Revenue,  has  Hated  it  at  ^.2,100,587.  A  confider- 
able  part  of  which  is  expended  in  litigations,  in  whicli  the  poor,  in- 
ftead  of  being  reheved,  are  torniented.  The  ex2)ence,  however,  is  the 
fame  to  the  parilh  from  whatever  caufe  it  arifcs. 

In  Birmingham,  the  amount  of  the  poor-rates  is  &)urteen  thoufand 
pounds  a  year.  This,  though  a  large  fum,  is  moderate,  compared 
with  the  population.  Birmingham  is  faid  to  contain  feventy  thou- 
fand  fouls,  and  on  a  proportion  of  icventy  thoufandto  fourteen  thou- 
fand  pounds  poor-rates,  the  national  amount  of  poor-rates,  taking  the 
population  cf  England  at  feven  millions,  would  be  but  one  million 
four  hundred  thoufand  pounds.  It  is,  therefore,  mcft  probable,  that 
the  population  of  Birmingham  is  over  rated.  Fourteen  thoufand 
pounds  is  the  proportion  upon  fifty  thoufand  fouls,  taking  t>vo  mil- 
lions of  poor-rates  as  the  national  a<r.ount. 

Be  it,  however,  what  it  may,  it  is  no  otiier  than  the  confequerce 
of  the  exceffive  burden  of  taxes,  for,  at  the  time  when  the  taxes  were 
very  low,  the  poor  were  able  to  maintain  themfclves  ;  and  there  were 
no  poor-rates.*  In  the  prefent  flate  of  things,  a  labouring  man, 
with  a  wife  and  two  or  three  children,  doet-.  not  pay  iefs  than  between 
feven  and  eight  pounds  a  year  in  taxes.  He  is  not  fcnflble  of  this,, 
becaufe  it  is  difguifcd  to  him  in  the  articles  which  lie  buys,  aiid  he 
thinks  only  of  their  dearnefs  ;  but  as  the  taxes  take  from  him,  at  leafl:, 
a  fourth  part  of  his  yearly  earnings,  he  is  confequentlv  difabled  from 
providing  for  a  family,  efpecially  if  himfclf,  or  any  of  them*,  are  af- 
fli<fted  with  ficknefa. 

The  firft  {lep,  therefore,  of  pradlical  relief,  Vv'ould  be  to  aboliih  the 

*   Poor-rates  Ic^an  alciii  ths  thn^  cf  Henry  the  e'l^hlh,  ivhcn  the  taxes 
le^an  to  increafr^  and  they  hr.vc  incrcafcd  as  the  ta'xss  increrfrd  ei-^rfncs. 


223 


Y  A  I  N  E  '  s     W  O  R  K  S. 


poor-zates  entirely,  and  in  lieu  thereof,  to  make  a  remiffion  of  taxes  to 
the  poor  of  double  the  amount  of  th.e  prcfent  poor-rates,  viz.  four 
ra'llions  annually  out  of  the  faiplus  taxes.  By  this  ir.eafure,  the  poor 
'  would  be  benefited  two  millions,  and  the  houfe-keepers  two  miUions> 
This  alone  would  be  equal  to  a  redudion  c:  one  hundred  end  twenty 
miUions  of  the  national  debt,  and  confccuently  equal  to  the  whole 
cxpence  of  the  American  war. 

•    It  will  thi-ju  remain    to  be  confidered  which  is  the  moil  efFcdual 
mode  of  didributiui'-  tliis  remilTion  ot  lour  nnilions. 

o 

It  is  CD  illy  fecn,  that  the  poor  are  generally  compofed  of  large  fa- 
mihes  of  cliildi-cn,  aiid  old  people  pail  their  labour.  If  thefe  two 
clalfes  are  provided  for,  the  remedy  will  fo  far  reach  to  tlie  full  extent 
ci  the  cafe,  that  what  remains  will  be  incidenlal,  and,  in  a  great  mea- 
sure, fall  Within  the  compafs  of  benefit:  clubs,  which,  though  of  hum- 
]>!e  invention,  rnerit  to  be  ranked  amongfl  ihe  beil  of  miodcrn  infli- 
tutions. 

Admitting  England  to  contain  feven  millions  of  fouls;  if  one  fifth 
thereof  are  of  that  clafs  of  poor  which  need  fupport,  the  number  will 
be  one  million  four  hundred  thcufand.  Of  this  number,  one  hundred 
;:nd  forty  tlioufand  will  be  a^Tcd  roor,  as  will  be  hereafter  fliewn,  and 
for  which  a  diilinft  provifion  will  be  propofed. 

There  v/iU  then  remiain  one  miUion  two  hundred  and  fixty  thou- 
fand,  which,  at  live  fouls  to  each  family,  amount  to  two  hundred 
and  Fifty-t\vo  tlioufand  families,  rendered  poor  from  the  cxpence  of 
children  aiid  the  weight  of  taxes. 

The  narrber  .of  children  under  fourteen  years  of  age,  in  each  of 
ihofe  fam.ilic?,  will  be  found  to  be  about  five  to  evei-y  two  families; 
fjme  having  two,  and  others  three  ;  foir.e  one,  and  others  four  ;  fome 
none,  and  others  f  ve  ;  but  it  rarely  happens  that  miore  than  five  are 
under  fourtc;.'n  years  of  age,  and  after  ihis  age  they  are  capable  of 
lervice,  or  of  being  apprenliced. 

Allowing  fi\e  children  (under  fourteen  years)  to  every  two  fa- 
miliefe. 

The  number  of  children  will  be  -  -  C-^o  oco 

The  number  of  parents  were  they  all  living,  would  be     504,000 

It  Is  certain  that  if  the  children  are  provided  for,  the  parents  are 
reheved  of  confequence,  becaufe  it  is  from  the  expcnce  of  bringin"- 
up  children  that  their  poverty  arifes. 

Having  thus  afcertained  the  greatefl  number  that  can  be  fuppofed 
to  need  fupport  on  account  of  young  families,  I  proceed  to  the  mode 
of  relief  or  diitribution,  which  is, 


RIGHTS     OF    MAN.  221: 

To  pay  as  a  remiflion  of  taxes  to  every  poor  family,  out  of  the  fur- 
plus  taxes,  and  in  room  of  poor-rates,  four  pounds  a  year  for  every 
child  under  fourteen  years  of  age;  enjoining  the  parents  offuch  chil- 
dren to  fend  them  to  fchool,  to  learn  readinf*  writincr  and  common 
aritlimetic  ;  the  minillers  of  every  pariili,  of  every  denomination,  to 
certify  jointly  to  an  office,  for  that  purpofe,  that  this  duty  is  per- 
formed. 

The  amount  of  this  expence  will  be,  for  fix  hundred 
and  thirty  thoufand  children,  at  four  pounds  per 
ann,  each,  -  -  -  ^.2,520,000 

By  adopting  this  method,  not  only  the  poverty  of  the  parents  will 
be  relieved,  but  ignorance  will  be  banifhed  from  the  rifmg  generation, 
and  t'le  number  of  poor  will  hereafter  become  lefs,  becaufe  their  abi- 
lities, by  the  aid  of  education,  will  be  greater.  Many  ayoulh,  with 
good  natural  genius,  who  is  apprenticed  to  a  mechanical  trade,  fuch 
as  a  carpenter,  joiner,  millv/ri^'ht,  fliipwright,  blackfmith,  &c.  is  pre- 
vented getting  forward  the  v.^hole  of  his  life,  from  the  want  of  a  Kttie 
common  education  when  a  bey. 

I  now  proceed  to  tlie  ca^e  of  the  aged. 

I  divide  age  into  two  claiTjs.  Firit,  the  approach  of  age  begin- 
ning at  fifty.     Secondly,  old  age  commencing  at  fixty. 

At  fifty,  though  the  mental  faculties  of  man  are  in  full  vigour, 
and  his  judgment  better  than  at  any  preceding  date,  the  bodily  pow- 
ers for  kborious  life  are  on  the  decline.  He  cannot  bear  the  fame 
quantity  of  fatigue  as  at  an  earlier  period.  He  begins  to  earn  lefs, 
and  is  lefs  capable  of  enduring  wind  and  weather;  and  in  thofe  more 
retired  emplov meats  where  much  figiit  h  required,  he  fails  apace,  and 
feels  himfelf,  like  an  «.)ld  horfe,  beginning  to  be  turned  adrifi. 

At  fixty.  his  labour  ought  to  be  over,  at  leaft  from  direcl:  necefiiiy. 
It  is  painful  to  fee  old  age  working  itfelf  to  d:ath,  in  what  are  called 
civilized  countries,   for  daily  bread. 

To  form  fome  judgment  of  the  number  of  tliofe  above  fifty  years 
of  age,  I  have  feveral  times  counted  the  perfons  I  met  in  the  ftreeU 
of  London,  men,  women,  and  children,  and  have  generally  found  tint 
the  average  is  about  one  m  fixtcen  or  feventeen.  If  it  be  faid  that 
a.^ed  perfons  do  not  come  much  in  the  ftreets,  fo  neither  do  infants; 
and  a  great  proportion  of  grown  children  are  in  fchools,  and  in  work- 
fliops  as  apprentices.  Taknig  then  fixteen  for  a  divifor,  the  whole 
number  of  perfons,  in  England,  of  fifty  years  and  upwards  of  both 
fexes,  rich  and  poor,  will  be  four  hundred  and  twenty  thoufand. 
The  perfons  to  be  provided  for  cut  of  this  ^r*,)fs  number  will  be, 


^2  y  I»  A  I  N  E  'V    WORK  S". 

bufbandmer,  common  labourerp,  journeymen  of  every  tradie  and  tHcir 
wives,  faJlors,  and  difbande.i  foldiers,  worn  out  fervants  of  both  fcxeSj 
and  poor  widows. 

There  will  be  slfo  a  confiderable  number  of  middling  Iradcfmen, 
nft'hc,  having  lired  decently  in  the  former  part  of  Hfe,  begin,  as  age 
approaches,   to  lofe  their  buiincfs,   and  at  laft  fall  into  decay. 

Befides  tliefe,  there  will  be  conftantly  thrown  off  from  the  rcvoluf 
tions  of  that  wheel,  which  no  man  can  ftop,  nor  regulate,  a  number 
from  ever}'  clafs  of  life  connected  with  commerce  and  adventure. 

To  provide  for  all  thofe  accidents,  and  v^'hatever  elfe  may  befal,  I 
'  take  the  number  of  perfons,  who  at  one  tim.e  or  other  of  their  livcs,r 
iifter  fifty  years  of  age,  may  feel  it  rccefTary  or  comfortable  to  be  bet- 
ter fiipported,  than  they  can  fupport  themfdves,  and  that  net  as  a 
matter  of  grace  and  favour,  but.  of  right,  at  one  third  of  the  whole 
number,  v.'hich  is  one  hundred  and  forty  tlioufand,  as  fiated  in  page 
220,  and  for  Vvhom  a  diilinct  provifion  was  propofed  to  be  made. 
If  there  be  more,  fociety,  notvv'ithftandiug  the  flievv'  and  pompofity  of 
rovernment,  is  in  a  deplorable  condition  in  England. 

Of 'this  one  hundred  and  fovtj  thoufand,  I  take  one  lialf,  feventy 

thoufand,  to  be  of  the  age  of  fifty  and  under  fixty,  and  the  other  half 

.10  be  fixty  3'cars  and  upwards. — Having  thus  afcertained  the  p.obable 

proportion  of  the  number  of  aged  perfons,  1  proceed  to  the  mode  of 

rendering  th-jir  condition  comfortable,  which  is. 

To  pay  to  cvey  fuch  perfon  of  the  age  of  fifty  years,  and  until  he 
fliall  arrive  at  the  age  of  fixty,  t)ie  fum  cf  fix  2>ounds/fr  aim.  out  of 
the  furplus  taxes;  and  ten  pounds /'fr^:,;;;.  curing  life,  after  the  age  of 
fixty.     The  expence  of  wliich  will  be, 

Seventy  thoufand  perfons  at /*.6/w^A/«.        -        -         ;f. 420,000 

Seventy  thcufand  perfons  at  £,io per  ann^  -  700,000 


/*.I,l20,CCO 

This  fupport,  as  already  remarked,  is  not  of  the  nature  of  a  cha- 
rity, but  of  a  right.  Every  perfon  in  England,  male  and  female,  pays 
on  an  average  in  taxes,  tv.-o  pounds  eight  flu'llings  and  fix  pence  per 
cnn.  from  the  day  cf  his  (or  her)  birth  ;  and  if  the  expence  of  col- 
lection be  added,  he  pays  "two  pounds  eleven  fhillings  and  fix-pence- 
Gonfequently,  at  the  end  of  fifty  years  he  lias  paid  one  hundred  and 
twenty-eight  pounds  fifteen  nnllingG;  and  at  fixty,  one  hundred  and 
fifty-four  pounds  ten  fhillings.  Converting,  therefore,  his  (or  her) 
individual  tax  into  a  tontine,  tlie  mortcy  he  fi^all  receive  after  fifty 
years,  is  but  little  r:ore  thsm  the  legal  intereft  cf  the  net  money  I^ 


R  I  G  H  T  S    O  F    M  A  N.  323 

lias  paid;  the  rell  is  made  up  from  thofe  whofj  circumilances  do  not 
require  thein  to  draw  fuch  fapport,  and  the  capital  in  both  cafes 
defrays  the  expenccs  of  government.  It  is  on  this  ground  that  I 
have  extended  the  probable  claims  to  one  third  oi  the  number  of 
aged  perfons  in  the  nation. — Is  it  then  better  tliat  the  lives  of  one 
hundred  and  forty  thoufand  aged  perfons  be  rendered  comfortable,  or 
that  a  million  a  year  of  public  money  be  expended  on  any  one  indi- 
vidual and  him  often  of  the  moil  worthlefs  or  infigniiicant  chara<5ler? 
Let  reafon  and  juPcice,  let  honour  and  humanity,  let  even  hypocrify, 
fycophancy  and  Mr.  Burke,  let  George,  let  Louis,  Leopold,  Fre- 
deric, Catherine,  Cornwallis,  or  Tippoo  Saib,  anfwer  the  queflion,* 

The  fum  thus  remitted  to  the  poor  will  be. 
To   two   hundred  and   fifty-two  thoufand  poor  families, 

containing  fix  hundred  and  thirty  thoufand  children,  /*.2,q'20,ooo 
To  one  hundred  and  forty  thoufand  aged  perfons,       -        i,i20,oco 


;^.3,640,ooo 
There  will  then  remain  three  hundred  and  fixty  thoufand  pounds 
out  of  the  four  millions,  part  of  which  may  be  applied  as  follows : 

After  all  the  above  cafes  are  provided  for,  there  will  Hill  be  a  num- 
ber of  families  who,  though  not  properly  of  the  clafs  of  poor,  yet  Hnd 

•  *'' Rechon'in^  the  faxes  hy  families,  Jive  to  a  family  ^  each  family  pays  o;t 
an  average,  12/.  lyj-.  and  6d.  per  ann.  to  this  fum  are  to  be  added  th: 
poor-rates*  Though  all  pay  taxis  in  the  articles  they  confurm,  all  do 
not  pay  poor-rates.  About  t"ji}0  millions  are  exempted,  fame  as  wjt  heing  . 
houfe-keepers,  others  as  not  being  able,  and  the  poor  thcmfelvTs  ivho  receivs 
the  relief.  The  average,  therefore,  of  poor-rates  on  the  remaining  number, 
is  forty  fiiillings  for  every  family  of  fve  perfons,  nvlnch  makes  the  <whole 
average  amount  of  taxes  and  rales,  14/.  i  yj-.  6d.  For  fix  perfons,  17/.  lyj". 
For  f even  perfons,    20/.  16/.  Gd. 

The  average  of  taxes  in  ylmerica,  under  the  ne-zu  or  rcprefentative  fyf- 
tem  of  government ,  including  the  interej}  of  the  debt  ccntradsd  in  the  ivar, 
and  taking  the  population  it*  four  millions  of  fids,  ivhich  it  noiv  amounts  tOf 
and  it  is  daily  increaftng,  is  five  fiillings  per  head,  men,  ivomen,  and 
children.  The  difference,  therefore,  bettveen  the  izvo  governments,  is  as 
tinder, 

EnryLind,  America, 

For  a  family  off  ve  petfotis       14/.    17X.    C)iL  j/.    jj-.-  od. 

For  a  family  of fx  perfons  17       17      o  ii^      o 

For  a  family  of  f even  perfons     20       16     6  i     15      O 


224  ^^  -^  I  ^^  E  '  ^    won  K  S. 

it  diiTicult  to  giv'j  education  to  their  children  ;  and  fuch  children,  un- 
der fuch  a  cafe,  would  be  In  a  worfe  condition  than  if  their  parents 
were  adlually  poor.  A  nation  under  a  well  regulated  government, 
Ihould  permit  none  to  remain  unlnllrufted.  It  Is  monarchical  and 
arifk>tratical  government  only  that  requires  Ignorance  for  Its  fupport. 

Su'ppofe  then  fcnir  hundred  thoufand  children  to  be  in  this  condi- 
tion, which  Is  a  greater  number  than  ought  to  be  fuppofed,  after  the 
provifions  already  made,  the  m.ethod  will  be. 

To  allow  for  each  of  thofe  children  ten  fhllliiTgs  a  year  for  the  ex- 
pence  of  fchooling,  for  fix  years  each,  which  will  give  ihem  fix  months 
fchooling  each  year,  and  hulf  a  crown  a  year  for  paper  and  fpelling 
books. 

The  expence  of  this  will  be  annually*  J^.izo.ccc. 

There  will  then  remain  one  hundred  and  ten  thoufand  pounds. 

Notwithftandirgthe  great  modes  of  relief  which  the  bell  Inilltutcd 
and  bed  principled  goverr.ment  may  devife,  there  will  ftill  be  a  num- 
ber of  fmaller  cafep,  which  It  Is  good  policy  as  well  as  beneficence  in 
a  nation  to  conlider. 

Were  twenty  fnillings  to  be  given  to  every  woman  immediately  on 
the  birth  of  a  child,  who  fliould  make  the  demand,  and  none  will 
make  It  whofe  circum (lances  do  not  require  It,  It  might  relieve  a  great 
dealof  Inilant  diibefs. 

There  are  about  two  hundred  thoufand  births  yearly  In  England  ; 
and  If  claimed,  by  one  fourth. 

The  amount  would  be  -  -  _  _  /^.^o^cco 

And  twenty  (hillings  to  every  new  married  couple  who  fliouid  claim. 
In  like  manner.     This  would  not  exceed  the  fum  of  ^^.20,000 

*  PulUc  fcho'As  do  ?iot  arfivcr  the  general pttrpofe  of  the  pocr.  They 
are  ch'ujiy  in  corpcration  tczw^^from  'u.'h'ich  ihe  country  icvcns  and  •villa- 
ges are  excluded;  cr  if  admitted-^  the  dl/Iance  occojiGns  a  great  hfs  of  time. 
Education^  to  le  ufful  to  the  ponr^JJjoidd  he  on  the f pot ;  and  the  hejl  me- 
thod, I  Icht've  to  accompliflj  this,  is  to  encdle  i]:c  parents  to  pay  the  expencs  ■ 
thewfclvcs.  There  are  ai'vays  pcrfons  (f  hoih  jxes  to  be  found  in  every 
•village,  efpecially  '■j^hcn  grciving  i?itn  years,  capable  of  fuch  an  undertal- 
ing.  1  tuenty  children,  at  tcnjijillings  each  (and  that  not  more  thanjix. 
months  each  year),  ivuvld  he  as  much  as  fame  livirgs  amount  to  in  the  re- 
mote parts  of  Evgland ;  and  there  are  often  d'freffed  clergy .i'rn^s  luidctvs 
to  nv horn  fuch  an  income  ivovdd  be  acceptable.  Whatever  is  given  en  this 
account  to  children  arfu'crs  t'ujo  prnpofs,  t''i  thcni  it  is  education^  to  ihoft 
nvho  educate  thcni  it  is  a  livelihoods 


RIGHTS    OF    MAN.  $Sjf 

Alfo  twenty  thoufand  pounds  to  be  appropriated  to  dcrfray  the  fu- 
ueral  expences  of  j)erfons,  who,  travelling  for  work,  may  die  at  a  chf- 
tance  from  their  friends.  By  relieving  pariihes  from  this  charge,  ti^.a 
Tick  ftranger  will  be  better  treated. 

I  fhall  finifh  this  part  of  my  fiibjeft  with  a  plan  adapted  to  the  par- 
ticular condition  of  a  mttropolis,  fuch  as  London. 

Cafes  are  continually  occurring  In  a  mctropc>lis  different  to  thofe 
which  occur  in  the  country,  and  for  whicji  a  dlirl-'rcnt,  or  rather  an 
additional  mode,  of  relief  Is  nectlfary.  In  the  country,  even  in  large 
towns,  people  have  a  knowledge  of  c?.ch  other,  and  dillrcfs  never  rifes 
to  that  extreme  height  it  fometlmes  does  in  a  metropolis.  There  la 
no  fuch  thinfr  in  a  country  as  pevfon?.  In  the  literal  (s.'Se  of  tlie 
word,  ftafved  to  death,  or  dvi^ir  vrith  cold  from  the  want  of  a  Icdc;. 
\x\^.  Yet  fuch  cafes,  and  others  equally  as  miferable,  happen  la 
London. 

Many  a  youth  comes  up  to  London  full  ofexpe^Lations,  and  Vvuth 
little  or  no  money,  and  unlefs  he  gets  Immediate  employment  lie  is  al- 
ready half  imdone;  and  boys  bred  up  in  London  without  any  means 
of  a  livelihood,  and  as  It  often  Iiappens  of  diffblute  parents,  are  \x\  a 
ilill  worfe  condition,  and  fervants  long  out  of  place  aie  not  niuch  bet- 
ter off.  In  iliort,  a  world  of  little  cafes  are  continually  arifng,  v.li'ch 
bufy  or  afPxuent  life  knows  not  of>  to  open  the  nrfc  door  to  d^Hrefs* 
Hunger  is  not  among  the  poft:ponab!e  wants,  and  a  day,  even  a  few 
hours,  in  fuch  a  condition,  is  cjften  the  criiis  of  a  life  of  ruin. 

Thefe  circumdances,  which  are  the  general  caufe  of  the  little  thefts 
and  pllferings  that  lead  to  greater,  may  be  prevented.  There  vet 
remnin  twenty  thoufand  pounds  out  of  the  four  millions  of  furplus 
taxes,  which,  with  another  fund  hereafter  to  be  mentioned,  amount- 
ing to  about  twenty  thoufand  pounds  more,  cannot  be  better  applied 
■^than  to  this  purpofe.     The  plan  then  will  be, 

Firll,  To  ereffc  two  or  more  buildings,  or  take  fome  already  ereclei*, 
capable  of  containing  at  leaf!:  fix  thoufand  perfons,  and  to  have  In 
each  of  thefe  places  as  many  kinds  of  employment  as  can  be  con- 
trived, fo  that  every  perfon  who  fliall  come  may  find  fometIiIng^4u'ch 
he  or  (he  can  do. 

Secondly,  To  receive  all  who  fnai:  come,  without  enquiring'  who 
o^  what  they  are.  The  only  condition  to  be,  that  for  fo  much,  or  fo 
many  hours  work,  each  perfon  fnali  receive  fomany  mrrJs  of  whole- 
fome  food,  and  a  warm,  lodging,  at  leail  as  good  as  a  barrack.  That 
a  cettain  portion  of  what  each  perfon's  work  fliall  be  worth  fl'.all  be 
referv-ed,  and  given  to  him.,    or  her,   on  their  going  awav  ;   and  thit 

Vol.  ir,  G^ 


226  PAlNE's    Vv'ORKS. 

■each  perfon  fhall  flay  as  Iciig,  or  as  ihort  time,  cr  ccn-e  -3  often  as  ht 
<:hoofe,  on  thcfe  conditions. 

If  each  peifon  ftaid  three  months,  it  would  afTid  by  rotaticn  twenty- 
four  thcv.fand  pcrff^iis  anniuilly,  though  the  re?.I  number,  at  all 
times,  would  be  but  fix  thcufand.  By  eflabliihing  an  afyhim  of  this 
kind,  fuch  perfons  to  whom  temporary  diilreiTes  occur,  would  Iiave 
an  opportunity  to  recrui':  thcmfelves,  and  be  enabled  to  look  cut  for 
better  employment. 

Allowing  that  their  labour  paid  but  one  half  the  expence  of  fup- 
porting  them,  after  refjrving  a  portion  of  tljeir  earnings  for  themfelves, 
the  fum  of  forty  thcufand  pounds  additional  would  defray  all  other 
charges  for  even  a  greater  number  than  fix  thcufand. 

The  fund  very  j:n)pcrly  convertible  to  this  purpcfe,  in  addition  to 
the  twenty  thcufand  rounds,  remaininr  of  the  form.cr  fund,  will  be 
tlie  produce  of  tlie  tax  upon  ccais,  and  fo  iniquitouily  and  wantonly 
applied  to  the  fupport  of  the  duke  of  Richmond.  It  is  horrid  that 
any  man,  more  efpecially  at  the  price  coals  now  are,  fhould  live  on  the 
diftrelTes  of  a  community  ;  and  any  government  permitting  fuch  an 
abufe,  deferves  to  be  difmiffed*  This  fund  is  faid  to  be  about  twenty 
thoufund  pounds  j^Yr  annu:n. 

I  fhall  now  conclude  this  plan  with  enumerating  the  feveral  parti- 
cuaus,  and  then  proceed  to  other  matters. 

The  enumeration  is  as  follovrs  ; 

Tiril,  Abolition  of  two  millions  poor-rates. 

Secondly,  Pn/vihon  for  two  hundred  and  fifty-two  thoufand  poor 
families, 

Thirdly,   Edacation  for  one  million  and  thirty  thcufand  children.- 

Fourthly,  Comfortable  provifion  fur  one  hundred  and  forty  thou- 
Xand  aged  perfon?. 

Fifthly,  Donatioi\  of  twenty  (liillings  each  for  fifty  thcufand  births. 

Sixthly,  Donation  of  twenty  (liillings  each  for  twenty  thcufand 
marriages. 

Seventhly,  Allowance  of  twenty  thcufand  pounds  for  the  funeral 
cxpenges  of-^:>erions  traveUing  for  work,  and  dying  at  a  diilance  from 
their  friends. 

Eighthly,  Employment,  at  all  times,  for  the  cafual  poor  in  the  cities 
of  London  and  Weftminiler. 

By  the  operation  of  this  plan,  the  poor  laws,  thofe  inflruments  of 
civil  torture,  v.iil  be  fuperfeded,  and  the  waflefiil  expence  of  litiga- 
tion prevented.  Tiie  hearts  of  the  humane  will  not  be  fliccked  by 
lagged  and  hungry  cliildren,  and  perfons  of  feventy  and  eighty  year% 


RIGHTSOFMAN.  227 

of  age  begging  for  bread.    The  dying  poor  will  not  be  dragged  from 
place  to  place  to  breathe  their  laft,  as  a  reprlfal  of  parlfh  upon  panft. 
Widows  will  have  a  maintenance  for  their  children,  and  not  be  carted 
away,  on   the  death  of  their  hufbands,   like  culprits  and  criminals  ; 
and  children  will  no  longer  be  confidered  as  Incrcp.fing  the  dlftrelTes  of 
their  parents.     Tlie  haunts  of  tlie  wretched  will  be  known,   becaufe 
It  will  be  to  their  advantage,   and  the  num.ber  of  petty  crimes,   the 
offspring  of  diftrefs  and  poverty,  will  be  lefTencd.     The  poor,  as  well 
as  the  rich,  will  then  be  Interefced  in  the  fupport  of  government,  and 
the  caufe  and  apprehenfion  of  riots  and  tumults  will  ceafe.     Ye  who 
fit  In  eafe,  and  folace  yourfelves  In  plenty,  and  fuch  tlicre  are  In  Tur- 
key and  Ruffia,   as  well  as  In  England,   and  w^ho  fay  to  yourfdves, 
**  Are  we  not  well  off,"  have  ye  thought  of  thefe  things?    When  ye 
do,  ye  will  ceafe  to  fpeak  and  fctl  for  yourfelves  alone. 

The  plan  is  eafy  in  practice.  It  does  not  embarrafs  trade  by  a  fud- 
den  Interruption  in  the  order  of  taxes,  but  effe^ls  the  reUef  by  chang- 
ing the  application  of  them.;  and  the  money  ncceffary  for  the  purpofe 
can  be  drawn  from  the  exclfe  colleillons,  wliich  are  mr.de  eight  times 
a  year  in  every  miarket  town  in  England. 

Having  now  arranged  and  concluded  this  fubjcct,  I  proceed  to  the 
next-. 

Taking  the  prefent  current  expences  at  fovea  mlilions  and  an  hah, 
which  is  the  leaft  amount  they  are  now  at,  there  will  remain  (after  the 
fum  of  one  million  and  an  half  be  taken  for  the  new  current  expences,^ 
and  four  millions  for  the  before  mentioned  fervice)  the   fum  of  two 
millions,  part  of  which  to  be  applied  as  follows : 

Though  fleets  and  arnilcs,  by  an  alliance  Vv'Ith  France,  will,  in  a  great 
meafure,  become  ufelefs,  yet  the  perfcns  who  have  devoted  themfelves 
to  thofe  fervices,  and  have  thereby  unfitted  themfelves  for  other  lines 
of  life,  are  not  to  be  fuffercrs  by  the  means  that  m.ake  others  happy. 
They  are  a  dlixerent  defcriptlon  of  men  to  thofe  who  fv)rm  or  hang 
about  a  court. 

A  part  of  the  army  will  remain  at  leaft  for  fome  years,  and  alfo  of 
the  nav)'',  for  which  a  provlfion  is  alreadv  made  in  the  former  part  of 
this  plan  of  one  million,  which  is  almoft  half  a  million  more  than  the 
peace  eftabhfnment  of  the  army  and  navy  in  the  prodigal  times  of 
Charles  the  fecond. 

Suppofe  then  fifteen  thoufand  foldiers  to  be  dlfoanded,  and  to  al- 
low to  each  of  thofe  men  three  fiilllings  a  week  during  life,  clear  of 
all  deduclions,  to  be  paid  in  the  fame  manner  as  the  Chelfea  college' 
penlioners  arc  paid,  a:id  for  them  to  return  to  their  trades  and  their 


Z2%  P  A  I  N  E  '  3     W  O  Pv  K  S. 

friends;;    anj  alfo  to  add  fiFieen  thoufand  fix-pences  per  week  to  the. 
pay  of  thi  foklitrs  v.Iio  Hiall  remain;  tlie  annual  expence  will  be, 
To  the  pay  of  fifteen  ilioufand  difbanded  foldiers,  at  three 

fhillings  per  week,  .  -  -  -  ;^.  ii~,coo 

Additional  pay  to  the  remaining  foldiers,  -  19,500 

Siippcfe  that  the  pay  to  the'cfiicers  of  the  difbanded  corps 

be  of  the  fauie  amount  as  the  fiim  allowed  to  the  men     -    11 7,00^ 


^.253,500 
To  prevent  bulky  eilimat'cns,  admit  the  fame  fum  to  the 
diibanded  navy  as  to  the  ariny,  and  the  fame  increafe  of 
pay  -----  -         253,50« 


Total,    ^^-507,000 

Every  year. feme  part  of  th?s  fum  of  half  a  million  (I  omit  the  odd 
feven  thoufard  pounds,  for  the  purpofe  of  keeping  the  account  unem- 
barralTed)  will  fah  in,  and  the  whole  of  it  in  time,„  as  it  is  on  the 
ground  of  life  annuities,  except  the  increafed  pay  of  tv/enty-nine 
tboufarid  pounds.  As  it  falls  in,  a  part  of  the  taxes  may  be  taken 
off;  fjr  indance,  when  thirty  thoufand  pounds  fall  in,  the  duty  on' hops 
may  be  wholly  taken  off  ;  and  as  other  parts  fall  in,  the  duties  o;j 
candles  and    foap  may  be  lefTened,   till  at  lad  they  will  totally  ceafc. 

There  novv'  remains  at  leail  one  million  and  an  half  of  furpkii  taxes. 

The  tax  on  houfes  and  windows  is  one  of  thofe  direft  taxes,whichj 
like  the  poor-rates,  is  not  confounded  with  trade  ;  and  when  takett 
oif,  the  relief  will  be  inilantly  fdt.  This  tax  falls  heavy  on  the  middle 
ckifs  of  people, 

The  amount  of  this  tax  by  the  return;  of  178S, 

Houfes  and  windovvs  by  the  a6l  of  1766,  3^5>459     ^  i       7 

Ditto  ditto  by  the  ad  of  1779,  130,739     14      5 


r 


Total,  ^^.516,199  6  oi 
If  this  tax  be  flruck  off,  there  will  then  remain  about  one  million 
of  furplus  taxes,  and  as  it  ir.  always  proper  to  keep  a  fum  in  referve^ 
for  incidental  m.atters,  it  may  be  bcfl  not  to  extend  redudions  further, 
in  the  firll  nillance,  but  to  confider  what  may  be  accompHfhed  by 
other  modes  of  reform. 

Among  the  taxes  mofl  heavily  felt  is  the  commutation  tax.  I  fliail, 
therefore,  offer  a  plan  for  its  abolition,  b/  fubllituting  another  in  its 
place,  which  will  effecl  three  objeds  at  once  ; 


RIGHTS    OF    MAN.  22^ 

Firfl,  That  of  removinsf  the  burden  to  where  it  can  bell  be  borne. 

Secondly,  Reftoring  jpllice  among  families  by  a  diftribution  of 
property. 

Thirdly,  extirpating  the  overgrown  influence  arifing  from  tlic  un- 
natural law  of  primogeniture,  and  which  is  one  of  the  principdl  fources 
of  corruption  at  eletiions. 
The  amount  of  the  commutation  tax  bv  the  returns  of 

178S,   was,  .  -  -  .  £-111,^$! 

When  taxes  are  propofed,  the  country  is  amufcd  by  the  plaufible 
language  of  taxing  luxuries.  One  thing  is  called  a  luxury  atone  time, 
and  fomething  elfe  at  another;  but  the  real  luxury  does  not  confiil  in 
the  article,  but  in  the  mesns  of  procuring  it,  and  this  is  always  kept 
out  of  Gght. 

I  know  not  why  any  plant  or  herb  of  the  field  fnould  be  a  greater- 
luxury  in  one  country  than  another,  but  an  overgrown  eftate  in  either 
is  a  luxury  at  all  times,  and  as  fuch  is  the  proper  objeft  of  taxation. 
It  is,  therefore,  right  to  take  thofe  kind  tax-making  gentleman  up  on 
their  own  word,  and  argue  on  the  principle  themfelvcs  have  laid  down, 
that  o^  tabling  luxuries.  If  they,  or  their  champion,  Mr.  Burke,  who, 
I  fear,  is  growing  out  of  date  like  ihe  man  in  armour,  can  prove  that 
an  eilate  of  twenty,  thirty,  or  forty  thoufand  pounds  a  year  is  not  a 
luxury,   I  will  ^\vz  up  the  argument. 

Admitting  that  any  annual  fum,  fay,  for  inflance,  one  thou- 
fand pounds,  is  necelfary  or  fumcient  for  the  fupport  of  a  family,  con- 
fequently  t\vz  fecond  thoufand  is  of  the  nature  of  a  luxury,  the  third 
ftill  more.  10,  and  by  proceeding  en,  we  fliall  at  laft  ar.nve  at  a  fun\ 
that  may  not  improperly  be  called  a  prohibitable  luxury.  It  would 
be  impolitic  to  let  bounds  to  property  acquired  by  indufay,  and 
therefore  it  is  right  to  place  the  prohibition  beyond  the  probable 
acqiiifiticn  to  which  induftry  can  extend  ;  but  there  ought  to  be  a 
limit  to  property,  or  the  accumulation  of  it,  by  bequell.  It  fliould 
pafs  In  fome  other  line.  The  richeil  in  every  nation  have  poor  rela- 
tions, and  thofe  often  very  near  in  confanguinity. 

The  following  tabic  of  progreffive  taxation  is  conflrudled  on  the 
above  principles,  and  as  a  fub'litute  for  the  commutation  tax.  It 
will  reach  the  point  of  prohibition  by  a  regular  operation,  and  therebv 
fuperfcdc  tlic  ariilocratical  law  of  primogeniture. 


233 


P  A  I  N 


s     WORK  S\ 


TABLE     I. 
.  A  tax  on  all  eftiates  of  the  clear  yearly  value  of  fifty  pounds,  afteV 
deducing  the  land  tax,  and  up 

To  5CO        - 
From  500  to  1000  -  -  . 

On  the  2d  thoufand         -         -         - 
On  the  ^.d  ditto  .  -         -         .  - 


On  the  4th  ditto 
On  the  5th  ditto 
On  the  6lh  ditto 
On  the  7tli  ditto 
On  the  8  th  ditto 
On  the  9th  ditto 
On  the  loth  ditto 
On  the  1 1  th  ditto 
On  the  1 2th  ditto 
On  the  13th  ditto 
On  the  14th  ditto 
On  the  13  th  ditto 
On  the  1 6th  ditto 
On  the  17th  ditto 
On  the  1 8  th  ditto 
On  the  19th  ditto 
On  the  20th  ditto 
On  the  2 ill  ditto 
On  the  2 2d  ditto 
On  the  23d  ditto 


s. 

o 

o 

o 

I 

I 

2 


3  per  pound 
6  per  pound 
9  per  pound 
o  per  pound 
6  per  pound 
o  per  pound 
o  per  pound 
o  per  pound 
o  per  pound 
o  jier  pound 

7  o  per  pound 

8  o  per  pound 

9  o  per  pound 

10  o  per  pound 

11  o  per  pound 

12  o  per  pound 

13  o  per  pound 

14  o  per  pound. 

15  o  per  pound 

16  o  per  pound 

17  o  per  pound 

18  o  per  pound 

19  o  per  pound 

20  o  per  pound 
The    foregoing   table  fhtw'^   the  progrefnon  per   pound   on   every 

progreffive  thoufand.  The  following  table  fnews  the  amount  of  the 
tax  on  every  thoufand  feparately,  and  in  the  lall  colunn,  the  total 
amount  of  all  the  feparate  fums  collecled. 


TABLE     IL 

An  eftate  of  50/rr  ainf..  at  3  per  ;^.  pays 
ICO  3 

200  2 


300 
400 

500 


/. 
o 
I 

2 
0 

5 

7 


12 

5 
10 

o 
5 


6 
o 

o 
o 

Q 


K  i  G  H  T  S     OF    MAN. 


^3* 


S  2ii. 


After  5 col. — the  tax  of  fix-pence  per  pound  takes  place  on  the 
fccond  5ocL — confcGuently,   an   ellate  of  icool.  prr  ann.  pa^ 
i.TS.  and  fo  on. 


per  pound 


/. 

J. 

d. 

For  the  ift    500 

at 

p 

3 

2d    5C0 

at 

0 

6 

2d  1000 

at 

0 

9 

jd  1000 

at 

I 

0 

4th  1000 

at 

I 

6 

5  th  I  coo 

at 

2 

0 

6th    1000 

at 

3 

0 

7  th  1000 

at 

1 

0 

8th  lOGo 

at 

5 

0 

9th  I  coo 

at 

6 

0 

i,oth  1000 

at 

7 

0 

nth  1000 

at 

8 

0 

1 2th  I  coo 

at 

9 

c 

13  th   1000 

at 

10 

0 

i4.th  1000 

at 

II 

0 

ijth  loco 

at 

12 

0 

16th  I  coo 

at 

T3 

0 

17th  1000 

at 

14 

c» 

18th  1000 

at 

15 

0 

19th  1000 

at 

16 

0 

2Cth  1000 

at 

17 

0 

2  1  ft  ] 000 

at 

18 

0 

22d    1000 

at 

^V 

0 

23d    1000 

at 

20 

0 

Total  amount 

/. 

s. 

I. 

S, 

^         7 
14 

S 

TO 

}  - 

15 

37 

10 

59 

5 

50 

0 

IC9 

5 

15 

0 

184 

5 

100 

0 

2b'4 

5 

150 

0 

434 

5 

200 

0 

634 

5 

250 

0 

88q 

5 

300 

0 

21S0 

5 

350 

.0 

1540 

5 

400 

0 

1930 

5 

450 

0 

2360 

5 

5C-G 

0 

2880 

5 

550 

0 

3430 

5 

600 

0 

4030 

5 

650 

0 

4680 

5 

7CD 

0 

5?fio 

5 

750 

0 

6i7o 

5 

rjoo 

0 

6930 

5 

850 

0 

7780 

5 

900 

0 

8680 

5 

950 

8 

9630 

5 

I  ceo 

0 

10630 

5 

At  the  twenty-third  thoufand  the  tax  becomes  twenty  fhiilings  in 
the  pound,  and  confequently  every  thoufand  beyond  that  fum  can 
produce  no  profit  but  by  dividing  the  eftate.  Yet  foniiidable  as  this 
tax  appears,  it  will  not,  I  beheve,  produce  fo  much  as  the  commuta- 
tion tax  ;  fhould  it  produce  more,  it  on^hx.  to  be  lowered  to  that 
amount  upon  eftates  under  two  or  three  thoufand  a  year. 

On  fmall  and  middling  eftates  it  is  lighter  (as  it  is  intended  to  be) 
tlian  the  commutation  tax.  It  is  not  till  after  feven  or  eight  thoufand 
a  year,  that  it  begins  to  be  heavy.  The  object  is  net  fo  much  the  ' 
produce  of  the  tax  as  the  juftic^  of  the  nieafure.  The  ariftocrac^  has 
fcrecned  itfelf  too  muclij  and  this  ferves  to  rcilore  a  nart  cf  the  lofl 
€g[ui!ibrium, 


■^3^  r  AINE's    WO  R  Kg. 

As  an  iiirtancc  of  its  fcreeninir  itfclf,  it  is  only  neccfiary  to  look 
back  to  the  firft  citablifliment  of  the  excife  laws,  at  what  is  called  the 
revolution,  or  the  coming  of  Charles  the  fecond.  The  raillccratical 
intereit  then  in  power,  commuted  the  feudal  fervices  itfclf  was  under, 
by  laymg  a  lax  on  beer  brewed  for  file  ;  that  is,  they  compounded 
with  Charles  fbr  an  exemption  from  thofe  fervices  for  themfelves  and 
their  heirs,  by  a  tax  to  be  paid  by  other  people.  The  ariilocracy  do 
not  purchafe  beer  brewed  for  liile,  but  brew  their  own  beer  free  of  the 
duty,  and  n  any  commutation  at  that  lime  were  neceffary,  it  ought 
to  have  been  at  the  expence  of  thofe  for  whom  the  exemptions  from 
thofe  fervices  were  intended  ;*  in  (lead  of  which  it  v/as  throv/n  on  an 
tntire  different  clafs  of  men. 

But  the  chief  object  of  this  progreiTive  tax  (befides  the  juilice  of 
?-cndei;ing  taxcs..^re-*cqual  than  they  are)  is,  as  alre^ady  ilated,  to 
extirpate  the  qyergrov/n  influence  arifmg  from  the  unnatural  law  of 
primogeniture,  imd  which  is  one  of  the  principal  fourcesof  corruption 
at  eledlions. 

It  wo.uld  be  attended,  with  no  good  confccuences  to  enquire  how  fuch 
vail  cfiatcs  as  thirty,  forty,  or  fift'v  thoufand  a  year  could  comrr.ence, 
and  that  at  a  time  when  commerce  and  mianufaftures  were  not  in  a 
ftate  to  admii  of  fuch  acqnifitions.  Let  it  be  fufficient  to  remedy 
the  evil  by  putting  them  in  a  condition  of  defcending  again  to  the 
com.munity,  by  tlie  quiet  means  of  apportioning  them  among  all  tlie 
htcirs  and  heireffes  of  tliofe  families.  Tliis  will  be  the  more  neceffary 
liecaufe  hitherto  the  ariftocracy  have  quartered  their  younger  children 
and  connexions  upon  the  pubhc,  in  ufelefs  pcfts,  places,  and  offices, 
which  wlien  abclinied  Avill  leave  them  deftitute,  m;!lefs  the  lav.-  of  jiri- 
inogeniture  be  aho  aboliHied  or  fuperfeded. 

A  progreiTive  tax  v.'i]l,  in  a  great  meaiure,  effcft  this  objeft,  and 
that  as  a  matter  of  interetl  to  the  parties  moft  im.mi,edialely  concerned, 
as  win  be  feen  by  the  following  table  ;  which  fhews  the  nett  produce 
I'pou  every  eftaie,  afeer  fubtrafting  the  tax.  By  this  it  will  appear, 
that  after  an  ellate  exceeds  thirteen  or  fourteen  thoufand  a  year,  the 
remainder  j-roduces  but  little  profit  to  the  holder,  and  confequently, 
will  cither  pafs  to  the  younger  children,  or  to  other  kindred. 

*  The  tax  en  hfcr  I  reived  for  f ale,  J)'om  tuhich  the  ariftocracy  are 
f:<c'inpt^  is  almofi  trie  vuH'iotj  wore  than  the  prifent  commulation  tax,  Iting 
ly  the  returns  «f  l  788,  ;^.  1,666,152  ;  and  confequently  they  ought  to 
take  677  themfelves  the  ajnoi/nt  cf  the  ccrfimviat'ion  tax,  as  they  are  already 
c\en:J)tedfrc}7i  one  ivh'ich  is  ahniof  a  vuHion  greater. 


RIGHTS    OF    MAN.  233 

TABLE     III. 

Shewing  the  nett  produce  of  every  cflate,  from  one  thoufarid  to 
twenty-three  thoufand  pounds  a  year. 


No.  of  thoufands 

Total  ta:c 

Nett  produce. 

per  anil. 

fubtrafted. 

£.  1 000 

£,   21 

£'   979 

2000 

59 

I94E 

3000 

109 

2891 

4000 

134 

■  Z'^iG 

5000 

-284 

4716 

6000 

454 

5566 

7000 

634 

6365 

Sooo 

880 

7120 

9000 

11  So 

7820 

i  0,000 

^530 

8470 

i  1,000 

1930 

9070 

12,000 

2380 

0620 

13,000 

2880 

10,120 

14,000 

343^ 

10,570 

1 5,OOG 

4030 

10,970 

1 6,000 

4680 

11,320 

17,000 

r^^':^ 

11,620 

1 8,000 

6130 

-11,870 

19,000 

6930 

^-V^7o 

20,000 

7780 

I2,230- 

21,600 

.•86S0 

12,3:0 

22,000 

9630 

12,370 

23,000 

10,630 

12,370 

N.  13.  The  odd  fhllllngs  are  dropped  in  this  table. 

According  to  this  table,  an  eHiate  cannot  produce  more  than 
>{^  I  2,370,  clear  of  the  land  tax  and  the  progreiTive  tax,  and  therefore 
the  dividing  fuch  eftates  wiU  follow  as  a  matter  of  family  interefl. 
An  eftate  01^^.23,000  a  year,  divided  into  five  eflates  of  four  thou- 
fand each  and  one  of  three,  will  be  charged  only  ^.  1 129,  which  Is  but 
live/?tr  cent,  but  If  held  by  one  poflefTor  will  be  charged  ^f.  10,630. 

xYlthough  an  enquiry  into  the  origin  of  thof;?  cdatesbe  unncceffar)', 
ihe  continuation  of  them  in  their  prefent  Hate  is  another  fubjeft.  It 
is  a  matter  of  national  concern.  As  hereditary  eflates,  the  law  has 
created  the  evil,  and  it  ought  alfo  to  provide  the  remedy.  Primoge- 
;iiture  ought  to  be  abolifhed,  not  only  becaufe  it  is  unnatural  and  un- 

Vol,  II.  H  h 


^34  P  A  I  N  £  '  s    W  O  R  K  S. 

juft,  but  becaiife  the  countiy  fufFers  by  its  operation.  By  cutting 
off  (as  before  obferved)  the  younger  children  from  their  proper  por^ 
lion  of  inheritance,  the  pwbh'c  is  loaded  with  the  expeiice  of  main- 
taining them  ;  and  the  freedom  of  eletftions  violated  by  the  overbear- 
ing influence  v/hich  this  unjuft  monopoly  of  family  property  pro- 
tluces.  Nor  is  this  all.  It  occafions  a  wafle  of  national  property, 
A  confiderable  part  of  the  land  of  the  country  is  rendered  unpro- 
du6live,  by  the  great  extent  of  parks  and  chafes  which  this  law  ferves 
to  keep  up,  and  this  at  a  time  when  the  annual  produ(5iion  of  grain  is 
not  equal  to  the  national  confumption.* — In  fiiort,  the  evils  of  the 
ariftocratical  fyllem  are  fo  great  and  numerous,  fo  inconliftent  with 
every  thing  that  is  juft,  wife,  natural  and  beneficent,  that  when  they 
are  confidered,  there  ought  not  to  be  a  doubt  that  many,  who  are 
now  claffed  under  thiit  defcription,  will  wifa  to  fee  fuch  a  fyftem  abo- 
lifhed. 

"What  pleafurc  can  they  derive  from  contemplating  the  cxpofed 
condition,  and  almoft  certain  beggary  of  their  younger  offspring? 
Iv.ery  ariftocratic?,!  family  has  an  appendage  of  family  beggars  hang- 
ing round  it,  wliich  in  a  fev/  ages,  or  a  few  generations,  are  fhawito)^*^ 
off,  and  confole  thcmfelves  with  t'.Uing  their  tale  in  ahns-houfes, 
work-houfes,  and  prifons.  This  is  the  natural  confluence  of  arillo- 
cracy.  The  peer  and  the  beggar  are  often  of  the  fame  family.  One 
■extreme  produces  the  other :  To  make  one  rich  many  mufl  be  made 
poor';   neiiher  can  the  fyftem  be  lupportcd  by  other  means. 

There  are  two  claffes  of  people  to  whom  the  laws  of  England  are 
■particularly  hoftile,  and  thofe  the  moft  helplefs  ;  younger  children 
hwl  the  p(^or.  Of  the  fcrm.er  I  have  juft  fpoken  ;  of  the  latter  I 
fnail  mention  one  inftance  out  of  the  many  that  might  be  produced, 
and  with  wbich  I  (liall  clofe  this  fubjeA. 

Several  lav/s  are  in  exiflence  for.regulating  and  limiting  workmen's 
wages.  Why  not  leave  them  zz  free  to  make  their  own  bargains,  as 
the  law-makers  are  to  let  their  farms  and  houfts  ?  I'erfonal  labour  is 
all  the  property  they  have.  Why  is  thathttle,  and  the  little  freedom 
they  enjoy  to  be  infringed  ?  But  the  injuftice  v.'ill  appear  ftrohgcr, 
if  we  confider  the  operaiion  and  effect  of  fuch  laws.  When  wages 
are  fixed  by  what  is  called  a  law,  the  legal  wages  remain  ftationary, 
while  every  thing  clfe  is  in  progreflion  ;  and  as  thofe  who  make  that 
law,  ftill  continue  to  lay  on  new  taxes  by  other  laws,  they  increafe  the 
txpence  of  living  by  one  law,  and  take  away  the  means  by  another. 

*    See  the  Reports  c?i  the  Corn  'Trade, 


RIGHTS     OF    MAN.  235- 

But  If  thefe  gentlemenlavv-makers  and  tax-makers  thought  it  right 
to  limit  the  poor  pittance  which  perfonal  kbour  can  produce,  and  on. 
which  a  whole  family  is  to  be  fupported,  chey  certainly  mufl  feel 
themfelves  happily  indulged  in  a  hmitation  on  their  own  part,  of  not 
lefs  than  twelve  thoufand  a  year,  and  that  of  property  they  never  ac- 
quired (nor  probably  any  of  their  anccilors),  and  of  whicli  they  have 
made  fo  ill  a  ufe. 

Having  now  finirned  this  fubjeft,  I  fhall  bring  the  feveral  particu- 
lars into  one  \iew,  and  then  proceed  to  other  matters. 

The  firil  eight  articles  are  brought  forward  from  page  226. 

1 .  Abolition  of  two  millions  poor-rates. 

2.  Provifion  for  two  hundred  and  fifty-tv.'o  thoufand  poor  families^ 
at  the. rate  of  four  pounds  per  head  for  each  child  under  fourteen 
years  of  age  ;  wiiich,  with  the  addition  of  two  hundred  and  fifty 
thoufand  pounds,  provides  alfo  education  for  one  milhon  and  thirty 
thoufand  children.  • 

3.  Annuity  of  fix  pounds  (per  ann.)  each  for  all  poor  pcrfons,  de- 
cayed tradefmen,  or  others  (fuppofcd  feventy  thoufand)  of  the  age 
of  fifty  years,  and  until  fixty. 

4.  Annuity  of  ten  pounds  each  for  life  for  all  poor  perfons,  de- 
cayed tradefmen,  and  others  (fuppofed  feventy  thoufand.)  of  the  age 
of  fixty  years. 

5.  Donation  of  twenty  fnillings  each  for  fifty  thoufand  births. 

6.  Donation  of  twenty  fliillings  each  for  twenty  thoufand  mar- 
riages. 

7.  Allowance  of  twenty  thoufand  pounds  for  the  funeral  expences 
of  perfons  travelling  for  work,  and  dying  at  a  diftance  from  their 
friends. 

8.  Employment  at  all.  times  for  the  cafual  poor  in  the  cities  cf 
London  and  Weflminller. 

..  .  ...  Second  enumeration. 

-•9.  Abolition   of  the  tax  on  houfes  and  windows. 

10.  Allowance  of  three  fliillingc  per  week  for  life  to  fifteen  thou- 
fand difbanded  foldlers,  and  a  proportionate  allowance  to  the  ofncers 
of  the  difbanded  corps. 

1 1.  Increafe  of  pay  to  the  remaining  foldiers  of/'.  1 9,500  annually. 

12.  The  fame  allowance  to  the  difoanded  navy,  and  the  fame  in- 
creafe of  pay,  as  to  the  army. 

13.  Abolition  of  the  commutation  tax^ 


236  P  A  INE^s    won  R  S. 

14.  Plan  c£  a  progreffive  tax,  opersting  to  extirpate  the  unjuH.  znd 
unriatiiral  law  of  primogeniture,  arxd  the  vicious  influence  of  the  arif- 
tocfatical  fyiteiti.* 

There  yet  remains,  as-alreacy  ftated,  cme  milh'on  of  furplus  taxes* 
oome  part  of  this  will  be  required  for  circumftatices  that  do  not  im- 
r.iediately  prcfent  thcmfclref^,  and  fuch  part  as  fhall  not  be  wanted^, 
will  admit  a  furthr.-  reduflion  of  taxes  equal  to  that  amount. 

Among  the  claims  thatjuHice  requires  to  be  made,  the  condition 
cf  the  inferior  revenue  ofF-cers  will  merit  attention.  It  is  a  reproach 
to  any  govcrnm.ent  to  wafte  fuch  an  immenfity  of  revenue  in  finecures - 
and  nominal  and  unRecefTary  places  and  offices,  and  not  allow  even  a 
decent  livelihood  to  thofe  vn  vvhom  the  labour  falls-  The  falary  of 
the  inferior  officers  of  the  revenue  has  Hood  at  the  petty  pittance  oF 
iefs  than  l^fty  pounds  a  year,  for  upv/ards  of  one  hundred  years.  It 
ought  to  he  feventy.  About  one  hundred  and  twenty  thoufand 
pounds  applied  to  this  purpofe,  will  put  all  thofe  falaries  in  a  decent 
condition. 

*  IV/jen  e?iqv:rles  are  rmide  'into  the  condhion  of  the  poor ,  various  de- 
grees of  dijirejs  zu'dl  moj'i  prohahly  he  founds  to  render  a  different  arrange- 
ment  preferable  to  that  'which  Is  already  prcpcfed.  JVldonvs  'cuith families 
ivUl  he  in  greater  tvant  than  luhcre  there  are  hvfhands  living.  There  is 
alfo  a  difcrence  In  the  expcnce  cf  living  In  ddiffcrent  countries  ;  and  more  fa 
in  fuel. 

Suppofe  thenffry  thoifand  extravrdifiary  cafes,  at  the  rate 

cf  ten  pounds  per  family  per  ann,  -  £^,   500,cao 

\oo  ^OOQ  families^  at  £,%  per  family  per  ann.  -  8oo,cco 

icOiCOQ  families,   at  /^.."j  per  family  per  an  n.  -  700,000. 

1 /\0,0G0  families,  af  £.^  P'^r  family  per  ann.  -  520,000. 

u^nd  In/lead  of  ten  fhlllwgs  per  head  for  the  education  of 
other  children,  to  alloiv  fifty  fljllllngs  per  family  for  that 

:^^J)urpcfetofftyihovfandfa:rdUes,  -  -  250,00© 

^    — 

;^.2, 770,000 

l^b,CQO  tigedpsrfons  as  lefore,  -  -  I,i20,oco 


^'.3,890,000 


This  arrangement  am.ounts  ic  the  fame  fum  as  fated  in  p^age  222,  in- 
cluding the  £.2^0,000  for  education  ;  but  it  provides  (Including  the  aged 
people )  for  four  hundred  and  four  thoufand  families,  ivhich  is  almojl  one 
third  of  all  the  families  in  England* 


RIGHTS    OF    M  A  N.  237 

This  was  propofed  to  be  done  almofl  twenty  years  ngo,  but  the 
treafuiy  board  then  in  being,  ilartled  at  it,  as  it  might  lead  to  limilar 
expecStations  from  the  army  and  navy;  and  the  cv^nt  was,  that  the 
king,  or  fom^body  for  him,  apphed  to  parh'aiiiait  to  hav.e  his.  own 
falary  raifcd  an  hundred  thoufand  a  year,  v/hicii  being  done,  every 
thing  elfe  was  laid  afide. 

With  refpe(5l  to  another  clafsof  men,  the  inferior  clergy,  I  forbear, 
to  enlarge  on  their  condition ;  but  all  partialities  and  prejudices  for, 
or  againft,  different  modes  and  fiorms  of  religion  alide,  common  juilice 
will  determine,  whether  there  ousfht  to  be  an  income  of  twenty  or 
thirty  pounds  a  year  to  one  man,  and  of  ten  thoufand  to  another. 
I  fpeak  on  this  fubjcft  with  the  more  freedom,  becaufe  I  am  knov»-ti 
not  to  be  a  Prelbyterian ;  and  therefore  the  cant  cry  of  court  fyco- 
phants,  about  church  and  meeting,  kept  up  to  amux"e  and  bewilder 
the  nation,  cannot  beraifed  againii  me. 

Ye  fimple  men  on  both  fides  the  queftion,  do  you  not  fee  through 
this  courtly  craft  ?  If  ye  can  be  kept  difnuting  and  wrangling  about 
church  and  meeting,  ye  juft  anfwer  the  purpofe  of  every  courtier, 
who  lives  the  while  on  the  fooil  of  the  taxes,  and  lauo^hs  at  vour  cre- 
dulity.  Every  religion  is  good  that  teaches  man  to  be  g'v?od  ;  and  I 
know  of  none  that  inilruds  him  to  be  bad. 

All  the  before-mentioned  calculations,  fuppofc  only  fixteen  millions 
and  an  half  of  taxes  paid  into  the  exchequer,  after  the  expence  of  col*-." 
leftion  and  drawbacks  at  the  cuiloin-houfe  and  excife-oiTice  are  de- 
duced; whereas  the  fum  paid  into  the  exchequer  is  very  nearly,  if 
not  quite,  fevcnteen  millions.  The  taxes  raifed  in  Scotland  and  Ire- 
land are  expended  in  thofe  countries,  and  therefore  their  favings  will 
come  out  of  their  own  taxes  ;  but  if  any  part  be  paid  into  the  Englifh 
exchequer,  it  might  be  remitted.  This  will  not  r^ake  one  hundred 
thoufand  pounds  a  year  difference. 

There  now  remains  only  the  national  debt  to  be  conHdered.  In  the 
year  1789,  the  inteveil,  cxclufive  of  the  tontine,  was  ^^T.^,  150, 138. 
How  much  the  capital  has  been  reduced  fince  that  time  the  miniller 
bed  knows.  But  after  paying  the  intereft,  abolifning  the  tax  on  hou- 
fes  and  windows,  the  commutation  tax  and  the  poor-rates  ;  and  mak- 
ing all  the  provifions  for  the  poor,  for  the  education  of  children,  the 
fupport  of  the  aged,  the  difbanded  part  of  the  army  and  navy,  and 
increafmg  the  pay  of  the  remainder,  there  will  be  a  furoluo  of  one 
million. 

The  prefent  fcheme  of  paying  off  the  national  debt  appears  to  me, 
fpeaking  as  an  indifferent  perfon,  to  be  an  ill  concerted,  if  not  a  falla-  - 


23^  PAINE's     V/ORKS. 

clous  job.  The  burden  of  the  national  debt  connfts  not  in  its  being' 
fo  many  milh'ons,  or  fo  m?.ny  hundred  milh'ons,  but  in  the  quantity 
of  taxes  coile6led  every  year  to  pay  the  intereil.  If  this  quantity 
continue  the  lame,  the  burden  of  the  national  debt  is  the  fame  to  all. 
intents  and  purpofes,  be  the  capital  iTiOre  or  lefs.  The  only  know- 
ledge which  the  public  can  have  of  the  reduftion  of  the  debt,  muft 
be  through  the  redu6lion  of  taxes  for  paying  the  interefl  The  debt, 
therefore,  is  not  reduced  one  farthing  to  the  pubhc  by  all  the  nillions* 
that  have  been  paid  ;  and  it  would  require  more  money  now  to  pur-> 
chafe  up  the  capital,  than  v:  hen  the  fcheme  began. 

Digreiling  for  a  moment  at  this  point,  to  which  '  fliall  return 
a^ain,  I  look  back  to  the  sppointmeLt  cf  Mr.  Pitt,  as  nrinifter. 

I  was  then  in  America.  The  \\?-r  was  ever  ;  a\id  though  refeht- 
ment  had  ceafed,  memory  was  Hill  ahive. 

"VVhen  the  ncvs  cf  the  coahition  arrived,  though  it  v/as  a  niatter  cf 
no  concern  to  me  as  a  citizen  of  Am.crica,  I  felt  it  as  a  man.  It  had 
fom.ethiiig  in  it  which  fnocked,  by  publicly  fporting  with  decency^  if 
not  with  principle.  It  was  in-ipudence  in  lord  North  ;  it  was  a  want 
of  fifmnefs  in  Mr.  Fox. 

Mr.  Pitt  was,  at  that  time,  what  may  be  called  a  m.aiden  charafter 
in  politics.  So  far  from  being  hackneyed,  he  appeared  not  to  be 
initiated  into  the  firfl  myileries  of  court  intrigue.  Every  thing  was 
in  his  favour.  Refentment  againft  the  coalition  ferved  as  friendfnip 
to  him.,  and  his  ignorance  of  vice  was  credited  for  virtue.  With  the 
return  of  peace,  cornm.erce  and  profperity  would  rife  of  itfcif ;  yet 
even  this  increafe  v^-as  throv;n  to  his  account. 

When  he  cam.e  to  the  hehn  the  ftorm  was  over,  and"  he  had  nothing 
to  interruDt  his  courfe.  It  required  even  ingenuity  to  be  wrong,  and 
he  fucceedca.  A  little  timic  fSiewcd  him  the  fam.e  fort  of  m.an  as  his 
predecefTcrs  had  been.  Tndead  of  profiting  by  thofe  errors  which 
had  accumulated  a  burden  of  faxes  unparalleled  in  the  world,  he 
fouo-ht,  I  might  almoft  fay,  lie  advertifed  for  enemies,  and  provoked 
means  to  increafe  taxation.  Aiming  at  fomething,  he  knew  not  what, 
he  ranfacked  Europe  and  India  for  adventures,  and  abandoning  the 
fair  Dretenfions  he  began  v/iih,   becamie  the  knight-errant  of  modern 

times. 

It  is  unpleafant  to  fee  charafler  throw  itfelfaway.  It  is  m.cre  fo 
to  fee  one's  felf  deceived.  Mr,  Pitt  had  merited  nothing,  but  he  pro- 
mifcdmuch.  Pie  gave  fymptoms  of  a  mind  fuperior  to  the  meannefs 
and  corruption  of  ccuvts.  Piis  apparent  candour  encouraged  expec- 
tations- and  the  public  confiderice,  ilunned,  wearied,  and  ccnfounded 


RIG  H  T  S     O  F    M  AN.  339 

by  a  chaos  af  pavdes,  revived  and  att?-ched  itfdf  to  turn.  But  miftak- 
ing,  as  he  has  done,  the  Jifguil  of  Lhe  nation  again  ft  the  coalition,  for 
merit  in  himfelf,  he  has  rudied  into  meafures,  which  a  man  lefs  fup« 
ported  would  not  have  prefunied  to  aft. 

All  this  feems  to  fhcw  th:it  change  of  minifters  amounts  to  nothing* 
One  goes  out,  another  comes  in^  and  {till  the  fame  meafures,  vices, 
and  extravagance  are  purlued.  I  fip;:ntie3  not  v'ho  is  miniRer.  The 
defeft  lies  in  the  fyftem.  The  foundation  and  the  fuperftruclure  of 
the  government  is  bad.  Prop  it  as  you  pleafe,  it  continually  links 
into  court  government,  and  ever  will. 

I  return,  as  I  promifi^d,  to  the  fubjedl  of  the  nat/onal  debt,  that 
offspring  of  the  Dutch-Anglo  revolution,  and  its  handmaid  the  Ha- 
nover fucceffion. 

But  it  is  now  too  late  to  enquire  how  it  began.  Thofe  to  whom 
it  is  due  have  advanced  the  money;  and  whether  it  v/as  well  or  ill 
fpent,  or  pocketed,  is  not  their  crime.  It  is,  however,  eafy  to  fee, 
that  as  the  nation  proceeds  in  contemplating  the  nature  and  principles 
of  government  and  to  underftand  taxes,  and  make  comparifons  be- 
tween thofe  of  America,  France  and  England,  it  will  be  next  to  im- 
polTible  to  keep  it  in  the  fame  torpid  ilate -it  has  hitherto  been.  Some 
reform  muil,  from  the  necemiy  of  the  cafe,  foon  begin.  It  is  not 
Avhether  thefe  principles  prefs  with  little  or  much  force  in  the  prefent 
moment.  They  are  out.  They  are  abroad  in  tlie  vrorld,  and  no 
force  can  flop  them.  Like  a  fecret  told,  they  are  beyond  recal ;  and 
hemuft  be  blind  indeed  that  doe^  not  fee  that  a  change  is  already  be- 
ginning 

..  Nine  millions  of  dead  taxes  .is  a  ferlous  thing;  and  this  not  only 
for  bad,  but  in  a  great  raeafure  for  foi^ign  government.  By  putting' 
the  power  of  making  war  into  the  hands  of  the  foreigners  who  canie 
for  what  they  could  get,  little  elfe  was  to  be  expelled  than  what  has 
happened.  , . 

Reafons  are  already  advanced  in  this  worli,  fnewing  that' v\:h$teyer 
the  reforms  in  the  taxes  may  be,  they  ought  to  be  made  in  the  cur- 
rent expences  of  government,  and  not  in  he  part  applied  to  the  inte»'.e|t 
of  the  national  debt.  By  remitting  the  taxes  of  the  poor,  .'/W  ^vill  be 
totally  relieved  and  all  difcontent  will  be  taken  away  ;  and  by  ilriking 
off  fuch  of  the  taxes  as  arc  already  m.entioned,  the  nation  will  more 
than  recover.iht  v^lude  cxpence  of  the  m.ad  American  war. 

There  will  then  remain  only  the  national  debt  as  a  fubjeft  of  dif- 
content, and  in  order  to  remove,  or  rather  to  prevent  this,  it  would 
be  good  policy  in  the  ftock-holders  thenifclvc:  to  confiJer  it  as  pro- 


240  P  A  I  N  E  '  s    WORKS. 

perty,  fubje,fl  like  all  other  property,  to  bear  feme  portion  of  tils 
taxes.  It  would  give  to  it  both  popularity  and  fecurity,  and  as  a  great 
part  of  its 'prefent  inconvenience  is  balanced  by  the  capital  which  it 
keeps  a]Ive,  a  meafure  of  this  kind  would  fo  far  add  to  that  balance 
'as  to  filence  otjeftions. 

This  may 'be  done  by  fuch  gradual  irier.ns  as  to  accomplifh  all  that 
is  neCclTaij  with  the  greatcft  eafe  and  convenience. 

Ififtead  of  taxing  the  capital,  the  beft  method  would  be  to  tax  the 
'"ntereit  by  foine  prcgrefiive  ratio,  and  to  leiTen  the  public  taxes  in  the 
fame  proportion  as  the  intereft  diminiflied. 

Suppofe  the  inkerefl:  was  taxed  one  halfpenny  in  the  pound  the  fnfl 
year,  a  penny  more  the  feccnd,  and  to  proceed  by  a  certain  ratio  to 
be  determined  upon,  always  kfs  than  any  other  tax  upon  property. 
Such  a  tax  would  be  fubtrafted  from  the  intereft;  at  the  tim.e  of  pa)Srf 
ment,  without  any  expence  of  collection. 

One  halfpenny   in  the  pound   would   Icffen  the  intereft:  and  confe- 

quently  the  taxes,  twenty  thoufand  pounds.     The  tax"  ch  waggons 

'  amounts  to  this  fum,   and  this  tt:x  might  be  taken  off  the  firil  year. 

The  fecond  year  the  tax  on  female  fervants,  or  fome  other  of  the  like 

amount  niight  alfo  be  taken  off,  and  by  proceeding  in  this  manner, 

always  applying  the  tax  raifed  from  the  property  of  the  debt  towards 

its  extindion,    and  not  carrying  it  to  the  current  fervices,   it  would 

liberate  itfelf. 

The  llockholders,  notwithftanding  this  tax,   would  pay  lefs  taxes 

than  they  do  now.  What  they  would  fave  by  the  extinftion  of  the 
poor-rates,  and  the  tax  on  houfes  and  windows,  and  the  commutation 
tax,  would  be  confiderably  greater  than  what  this  tax,  flow,  but  cer- 
tain in  its  operation,   amounts  to. 

It  appears  to  m.e  to  be  prudence  to  look  out  for  meafures  that  may 
apply  under  any  circumftance  that  may  approach.  There  is,  at  this 
moment,  a  crifis  in  the  affairs  of  Europe  that  requires  it.  Preparation 
now  lo  wifdom.  If  taxation  be  once  let  loofe,  it  will  be  difficult  to 
re-inilate  it;  neither  would  the  relief  be  fo  effedual,  as  to  proceed  by 
fome  certain  and  gradual  redudion. 

The  fraud,  hypocrify,  and  impolltion  of  governments,  are  now  be-  . 
ginning  to  be  too  well  underft.ood  to  prom,ife  them  any  logger  career. 
The  farce  of  monarchy  and  ariftocracy,  in  all  countries,  is  following 
that  of  chivalry,  and  Mr.  Burke  is  drefling  for  the  funeral  Let  it 
then  pafs  quietly  to  the  tomb  of  all  other  folhes,  and  the  mourners  be 
•  comforted. 

ThI  time  is  not  very  diftiant  when  Englarid  will  laugh  at  itfelf  for 


11  I  G  li  T  S     OF    MA  N.  241 

iendfjig  to  Hcillaad,  Hanover,  Zell,  or  Bruiifwlck  for  men,  at  l!ie  ex- 
p^p.ce  of  a  uiilL'ou  a  year,  who  undcrilood  neither  her  laws,  her  Ian- 
;;Ti.ige,  nor  her  intercit,  and  vvhofe  capacities  would  fcarccly  have  fit- 
ted them  for  the  office  of  a  panfli  ccnftabie.  If  government  could  he 
t'iulLcd  to  fuch  hands,  ii;  mull  be  fonie  eafy  and  fnnple  thing  indeed, 
and  materials  fit  for  all  the  purpofes  may  be  found  in  ever}'  town  and 
village  in  England. 

When  it  fhall  be  faid  in  any  country  in  the  world,  my  poor  are 
liappy :  Neither  ignorance  nor  diilrefs  is  to  be  found  among  them ;  my 
jails  are  empty  of  prifoncrs,  my  rtreets  of  beggars;  the  aged  arc  not  in. 
want,  the  taxes  are  not  opprefTive  ;  the  rational  world  is  my  friend, 
beeaufe  f  am  t!ie  fnciid  of  its  happinefs  :  When  thefe  things  can  be 
faid,  then  may  that  country  boait  its  conilftution  and  its  government. 

Within  the  fpace  of  a  few  years  we  have  feen  tvv^o  revolutions,  thofe 
uf  America  and  France.  In  the  former,  the  contefl  vras  long,  and 
the  conf]i6l  fevere;  in  the  latter,  the  nation  a^tcd  with  fuch  a  ccnfo- 
iidated  impulfc,  that  having  no  foreign  enemy  to  contend  with,  the 
revolution  was  complete  in  power  the  moment  it  appeared.  From 
both  thofe  inftances  it  is  evident,  that  the  greatell  forces  that  can  be 
brought  into  the  field  of  revolutions,  are  reafon  and  common  intereil. 
AV  he  re  thefe  can  have  the  opportunity  of  aifling,  cppofition  dies  with 
fear,  or  crumbles  away  by  convitilion.  It  is  ?  great  Handing  which 
lliey  have  now  un!verfally  obtained  ;  and  we  may  hereafter  hope  to 
fee  revolution?;,  or  changes  in  governments,  produced  with  the  fame 
quie:  operation  by  which  any  meafure,  determinable  by  reafon  and 
difcuilion,  is  acconiphfhtc. 

When  a  nation  changes  its  opinion  and  habits  of  thinking,  it  is  na 
longer  to  be  p-overnedas  before  ;  but  it  would  not  only  be  wrong,  but 
bad  policy,  to  attem.pt  by  force  what  ought  to  be  accompliflied  by 
.reafon.  R.ebeUion  confifts  in  forcibly  oppofing  the  general  v/ill  of 
a  nation,  whether  by  a  party  or  by  a  government.  There  ought> 
therefore,  to  be  in  eveiy  nation  a  method  of  occafionally  afcertaining 
the  ftate  of  public  opinion  with  refpecl  to  government.  On  this 
point  the  old  government  of  France  was  fuperior  to  the  prefent  go* 
vernment  of  England,  bccaufe,  on  extraordinary  occafions,  recoiu-fe 
could  be  had  to  what  was  then  called  the  ilates-generah  But  in  Eog- 
!'and  there  arc  no  fucli  occahonai bodies;  and  as  to  thofe  who  are  now- 
called  reprefentatives,  a  great  part  of  them  are  mere  machines  of  the 
court,  placemen,  and  dependants. 

I  prcfumc,  that  though  all  the  people  of  England  pay  taxes,  not 
hn  hundredth  part  of  them  are  cledlors,  and  the  members  of  one  of 
Vol.  II.     '  I  i 


24^  P  A  I  N  E  '  s     W  O  R  K  S. 

them  are  dealers,  and  tlie  members  of  one  of  the  houfes  of  parliament 
reprefent  nobody  but  themftivcs.     There  is,  therefore,  no  power  but 
the  voluntary  will  of  the  people  that  has  a  right  to  a6l  in  any  matter 
refpedling  a  general  refonn;  and  by  the  fame  right  that  two  perfons 
can  confer  on  fuch  a  fubjedl:,  a  thoufand  may.    The  objedl,  in  all  fucK 
preh'minary  proceedings,  is   to  lind  out  what  the  general  fcnfe  of  a 
nation  is,  and  to  be  governed  by  it.      If  it  prefer  a  bad  or  defedivc 
governm.ent  to  a  refoim,   or  choofe  to  pay  ten  times  more  taxes  than 
there  is  occafion  for,  ft  has  a  right  fo  to  do ;  and  fo  long  as  the  ma- 
jority do  not  impofe  conditions  on  the  minority,  different  from  what 
they  impofe  on  themfelves,  though  there  may  be  much  error,  there  is 
no  Iniuilice.    Neither  will  the  error  continue  long.     Reafon  and  difcuf- 
lion  will  foon  bring  things  right,   however   wroRg  tliey  may  begin. 
By  fuch  a  procefs  tjO  tumult  is  to  be  apprehended.     The  poor,   in 
ail  countries,    are     naturally  both  peaceable   and  grateful  in  all  re- 
forms   in    which   tlicir   intereft    and   happinefs  is   included.       It    is 
only  by    negledting   and   rejcdling   them   that   they   become  tumul- 
tuous. 

The  cbje6l:3  that  now  prefs  on  the  public  attention  are,  the  French 
revolution,  and  the  profpeft  of  a  general  revolution  in  governments. 
Of  all  nations  in  Europe,  there  is  none  fo  much  interelled  in  the  French 
revolution  as  England.  Enemies  for  ages,  and  that  at  a  vafl  ex- 
pence,  and  without  aiiy  national  cbjedt,  the  opportunity  now  prefents 
itfelf  of  amicably  chohng  the  fcene,  and  joining  their  efforts  to  reform 
the  reft  of  Europe.  By  doing  this,  they  will  not  only  prevent  the 
further  efFuhon  of  blood,  and  increafe  of  taxes,  but  be  in  a  condition 
cf  getting  rid  of  a  conhderable  part  of  their  prefent  burdens,  as  has 
been  already  llatcd.  Long  experience  however  has  (hewn,  that  re- 
forms of  this  kind  are  not  thofe  which  eld  governments  wifh  to  pro- 
mote, and  therefore  it  is  to  nations  and  not  to  fuch  governments, 
that  thefe  m^atters  prefent  them.felvcs. 

In  the  preceding  part  of  this  work,  I  have  fpoken  cf  an  alliance  be- 
tween England,  France,  and  America,  for  purpcfes  that  were  to  be 
afterwards  mentioned.  Though  I  have  no  dire6l  authority  on  tlie 
part  of  America,  I  have  good  reafon  to  conclude,  that  ihe  is  dif- 
pofed  to  enter  into  a  confideration  of  fuch  a  m.eafure,  provided  that 
the  governments  w-ith  v/hich  fhe  might  ally,  a6led  as  national  govern- 
ments, and  not  as  courts  enveloped  in  intrigue  and  myftery.  That 
France  as  a  nation,  and  a  national  government,  would  prefer  an  alliance 
with  England,  is  a  matter  of  certainty.  Nations,  like  individuals, 
who  h;ive  long  been  enemies,  without  knowing  e?.ch  other,  or  knowing 


RIGHTS     OF    MAN.  2^ 

"v^T^iy,  become  the  better  friends  when  they  difcoYer  the  errors  and  i:r.- 
pofitions  under  which  they  had  nfted. 

Admitting,  therefore,  the  probability  of  fuch  a  connexion,  I  will 
flate  fome  matters  by  which  fuch  an  alh'ar.ce,  together  with  that  of 
Holland,  might  render  fervice,  not  only  to  the  parties  immediately 
concerned,  but  to  all  Europe. 

It  is,  I  think,  certain,  that  if  the  fleets  of  England,  France,  and 
Holland  were  confederated,  they  could  propofe,  with  effcft,  a  lin-.ita- 
tion  to  and  a  general  difmanthng  of  all  the  navies  in  Europe,  to  a 
certain  proportion  to  be  agreed  upon. 

Firil,  that  no  new  fliip  of  war  fhall  be  built  by  any  power  in  Eu- 
rope, themfelves  included. 

Secondly,  that  all  the  navies  now  in  exigence  fhall  be  put  back, 
fuppofed  to  one  tenth  of  their  prcfent  force.  This  will  fave  to  France 
and  England  at  leafc  two  miBions  ftcrling  annually  to  each,  and  their 
relative  force  be  in  the  fame  proportion  as  it  is  now.  If  men  will 
permit  themfelves  to  think,  as  rational  beinga  ought  to  think,  no- 
thing can  appear  more  ridiculous  and  abfurd,  exclufive  of  all  moral 
refle6licns,  than  to  be  at  the  expence  of  building  navies,  filling  them 
with  men,  and  then  hauhng  them  into  the  ocean,  to  try  which  can 
fink  each  other  fafteil.  Peace,  which  coils  nothing,  is  attended  with 
infinitely  more  advantage,  than  any  viitory  with  all  its  expence.  Cut 
this,  though  it  beil  anfwers  the  purpofe  of  nations,  does  not  that  of 
court  governments,  v/hofe  habited  policy  Is  pretence  for  taxation, 
places,  and  offices. 

It  is.  1  think,  alfo  certain,  that  the  above  confederated  powers,  to- 
gether with  that  of  the  United  States  of  America,  can  propofe  with 
efFeft,  to  Spain,  the  independence  of  South  America,  and  the  open- 
ing thofe  countries  of  Immenfe  extent  and  wealth  to  the  general  com- 
merce of  the  world,  as  North  America  now  is. 

With  how  much  more  s:lorY,  and  advantage  to  itfelf,  does  a  nation 
aft,  when  it  exerts  its  powers  to  refcue  the  world  from  bondage,  and 
to  create  to  Itfelf  friends,  that  when  it  employs  thofe  powers  to  in- 
creafe  ruin,  defolation,  and  mifery.  The  horrid  fcene  that  is  now 
afting  by  the  EnghTn  government  in  the  Eaft-Indies,  Is  fit  only  to  be 
told  of  Goths  and  Vandals,  who,  dcftitute  of  principle,  robbed  and 
tortured  the  world  they  were  incapable  of  enjoying. 

The  opening  of  v'outh  America  would  produce  an  immenfe  field 
of  commerce,  and  a  ready  money  market  for  manufa£tures,  which  the 
eaftern  world  does  not.  The  Eafl  is  already  a  country  full  of  manu- 
fadlures,  the  importation  of  which  is  not  only  an  injury  to  tlie  manu- 


244  PAlNE's    WORKS. 

failures  of  Eur^land,  but"  a  drain  upon  It:;  fncoc.  "J  he  i:aiar;cc  afainil 
Engisad  by  this  trade  is  regiilxrhf  upward?  of  lialf  a  n-ii]l:on  annually 
fcnt  out  in  the  Eail-India  Ihips  in  hlvcr:  ysd  this  it.  the  realor,  toge- 
ther with  German  intrigae,  aiiJ  Gcrniim  frbiidics,  there  k  fo  little 
filver  in  England. 

But  an)'  war  is  harveft  to  fuch  government?,  liowcver  n-inous  it 
may  be  to  a  nation.  It  ferves  to  keep  up  deeeitiul  expetSlatiorjs  which 
prevent  a  people  looking  into  the  defefis  ai^d  abufes  of  government. 
Ii  is  the  lo  i\re  !  and  the  lo  there  !  that  aniufca  and  cheats  t!ic  mul- 
titude. 

Never  did  fo  great  an  opportnn'ty  offer  itfeif  to  England,  and  to 
all  Europe,  as  is  produced  by  the  two  revolutions  of  America  and 
France.  By  the  former,  freedom  his  a  national  champion  m  ihz 
weftern  v/orld  ;  arvl  by  the  latter,  in  Europe.  "When  another  natiou 
faall  join  France,  cefpotifm  and  bad  government  v/ill  fcnrccly  dare 
to  appear.  To  ufe  u  trite  expredion,  the  iron  is  btioming  liol  all 
over  Europe.  The  iufiilted  Genn^u  and  the  enfjavcd  Spaniard,  the 
Rufs  and  the  Pole,  are  bfe^^i'^^-fig  to  thinlv.  Tiie  prefent  I'ge  will 
hereafter  merit  to  be  called  the  Acre  of  Reafon,  and  the  prefent  f^c- 
neration  Vvu'U  appear  to  the  future  as  the  Adam  of  a  new  woild. 

When  all  the  governments  of  Europe  fliall  be  cHabliHied  on  t;ie  re- 
prefentative  fyUcm,  nations  v/ill  become  acquainted,  and  ih.e  animofi- 
tics  and  prejudices  fomented  by  the  intrigue  and  artifice  of  courts, 
will  ceafe.  The  opprefled  foldier  will  become  a  freeman  ;  and  the  tor- 
tured failor,  no  lono-er  dragged  along  the  ftrects  like  a  felon,  will 
purfue  his  mercantile  vovage  in.  frifety.  It  would  be  better  thut  na- 
tions fhould  continue  the  pay  of  their  foldiers  during  their  lives,  and 
give  them  their  difcharge  and  reflore  them  to  freedom  and  their 
friends,  and  ceafe  recruiting,  than  retain  fuch  niultitudes  at  the  fame 
txpence,  in  a  condition  ufekfs  to  fociety  and  themfelves.  As  r«;ii!iers 
have  hitherto  been  treated  m  moil  countries,  they  might  be  Una  to  be 
without  a  friend.  Shunned  by  the  citizen  on  an  apprehenfion  of  be- 
ing enemies  to  liberty,  and  too  often  infuUcd  by  thofe  who  com- 
manded them,  their  oridition  was  a  double  opprefTion.  But  where 
genuine  principles  of  liberty  pervade  a  people,  everything  is  rcilored 
to  order  ;   and  the  foldier  civilly  treated,  returns  the  civility. 

In  contem.platinrr  revolutions,  it  is  eafy  to  ])erceive  that  thcv  mav 

JO  '  J  i  J  J 

prife  from  two  dillind^  caufes  ;  the  cm?,  to  avoid  or  get  rid  of  fome 
great  calamity,  the  other,  to  obtain  fome  great  and  pofitlve  good  ; 
and  the  two  may  be  diftinguifhed  by  the  names  of  adlive  and  pafilvc 
revolutions.     In  thofe  v/hich  proceed  from  tlie  former  caufe,  the  teiu- 


RIGHTS     OF    M  A'N.  24.5 

per  becomes  incenfed  and  Toured;  and  the  redrefs,  obtained  by  dan- 
ger, is  too  often  fullied  by  revenge.  But  in  llioie  v>hich  proceed 
from  the  latter,  the  heart,  rather  animated  than  agitated,  enters  fe- 
rencly  upon  the  fubjedl.  Reafon  and  difculTion,  perfuafion  and  con- 
vi6lion,  become  the  weapons  in  the  conteft,  and  it  is  only  when  tbofe 
are  attempted  to  be  fuppreffcd  that  recourfe  is  had  to  violence. 
"When  men  unite  in  agreeing  that  a  lljltig  is  goody  could  it  be  obtained, 
fucli  as  relief  from  a  burden  of  taxes  and  the  extinction  of  corruptic:  , 
the  objefl:  is  more  than  ha'T  accompliflied.  What  they  approve  as  tlie 
^end,  they  will  promote  in  the  means. 

Will  any  man  fay  in  the  prefent  excefs  of  taxation,  falling  fo  hea- 
vily on  the  poor,  that  a  remiilion  of  five  pounds  annually  of  taxes  to 
one  hundred  and  four  thoufand  poor  families  is  not  a  good  tJAng  ? 
AVill  he  fay  that  a  remillion  of  feven  pounds  annually  to  one  hundred 
thoufimd  other  poor  families — of  eight  pounds  annually  to  another 
hundred  thoufand  poor  families,  and  often  pounds  annually  to  fifty 
thoufand  poor  and  widowed  families,  are  not  good  things  ?  And,  to 
proceed  a  ilep  farther  in  this  climax,  will  he  fay,  that  to  provide 
againfc  the  misfortunes  to  which  all  human  Xi^t  is  fabjeft,  by  fecuring" 
fix  pounds  annually  for  ail  poor,  diilrciTed,  and  reduced  perfons  of 
the  age  of  fifty  and  until  fixty,  and  often  pounds  annually  after  fixiv, 
is  not  a  jtos^  th'in'z  ? 

Will  he'fay,  that  an  abolition  of  two  millions  cf  poor-rates  to  the 
hoiue-keepers,  and  of  the  whole  of  the  houfe  and  window-li^rht  tax 
and  of  the  commutation  tax  is  not  a  good  thing  ?  Or  will  he  fav,  tliat 
to  aboiiih  corruption  is  a  had  th'ing  ? 

If,  therefore,  the  good  to  be  obtained  be  worthy  of  apafTive,  rati- 
onal, and  coftlefs  revolution,  it  would  be  bad  policy  to  prefer  waiting 
for  a  calamity  that  fliould  force  a  violent  one.  I  have  no  idea,  con- 
fidering  the  reforms  which  are  now  pafiing  and  fpreading  throun-hout 
Europe,  that  England  v/ill  penr.it  hcrfelf  to  be  the  laft  ;  and  where 
the  occafion  and  the  opportunity  quietly  ofTer,  it  is  better  than  to  wait 
for  a  turbulent  necefiity.  It  may  be  confidered  as  an  honour  to  the 
animal  faculties  of  man  to  obtain  redrefs  by  courage  and  danger,  but 
it  is  far  greater  honour  to  the  rational  faculties  to  accompHfli  the  fame 
objeft  by  reafon,  accommodation  and  general  confent.* 

*  /  litioix)  it  is  the  opinion  of  ir.any  of  the  mojl  enlightened  charuHers  in 
Trance  (there  aJtvays  tuill  be  thofe  tuho  fee  farther  into  events  than  others) 
not  only  among  the  general  mafs  of  citizen?,  but  of  many  of  the  principal 
fixsir-djer:  of  the  fvrmar  ngtiQnal  ajfemhly  y  that  the  monarchical  plan  will  not 


246  P  A  I  N  E  '  s    W  O  R  K  S. 

As  reforms,  or  revolutions,  call  them  which  you  pleafe,  cxtiend 
themfelves  among  nations,  tliofc  nations  will  form  connexions  and 
conventioPF,  and  when  a  few  are  thus  confederated,  the  progrefs  will 
be  rapid,  till  defpotifin  and  corrupt  government  be  totally  expelled,  at 
kail  cut  of  two  quarters  of  the  world,  Europe  and  America.  The 
Algerine  piracy  may  then  be  commanded  to  ceafe,  for  it  is  only  by 
the  m.alicious  policy  of  old  governments,  againft  each  other,  that  it 
exifts. 

Thronghout  this  Vv'ork,   various  and  numerous  as  the  fubjecls  are, 
which  I  have  taken  up  and  inveftigated,  there  is  only  a  fmgle  para- 
graph upon  religion,   viz.  "  tJjat  every  religion  is  good  that  teaches  Ttian, 
to  he  good.' ^ 

I  have  carefully  avoided  to  enlarge  upon  the  fubject,  becaufe  I  am 
inclined  to  believe,  that  what  is  called  the  prefent  minillr)-  wifh  to 
fee  contentions  about  religion  kept  up  to  prevent  the  nation  turning 
its  attention  to  fubje£l:s  of  govermr.ent.  It  is,  as  if  they  were  to  fay, 
*'   hooli  thai  rvry,   or  av.y  ivay^  hut  thisJ'^ 

But  as  religion  is  very  improperly  ir.ade  a  political  machine,  and 
the  reality  of  it  is  tliereby  dcfiroyed,  I  will  conclude  this  work  v/ith 
Hating  in  v.-hat  liglit  rel!;:;ion  appears  to  me. 

If  we  fuppofe  a  large  family  of  children,  who,  on  any  particular 
day,  or  particular  circumflance,  m.ade  it  a  cuftom  to  prefent  to  their 
parent  fom.e  token  cf  tlieir  atTe6l;on  and  gratitude,  each  of  them 
would  make  a  different  ofrerin;^,  and  mcfl  probably  in  a  different  mzn- 
uer.  Som.e  would  pny  their  congratulations  in  themes  of  verfe  and 
profe,  by  fome  little  devices,  as  their  genius  didated,  or  according  ta 
what  they  thought  would  pkafe;   and,  perliaps,   the  leaft  of  all,   not 

continue  tv.nry  years  in  that  ccuntry.  They  have  found  out,  that  as  <wif- 
dom  ccr.not  he  made  hereditary,  po-juer  ought  not;  and  that  for  a  man  to  me- 
rit a  million  flerling  a  year  from  a  r.ation,  he  ought  to  have  a  mind  capahle 
of  comprehending  from  an  atom  to  a  wiiverfe ,  ivhichy  if  he  had,  he  luould 
he  above  Kcceivitig  the  pay.  But  they  ivifjjcd  not  to  appear  to  lead  the 
nation  fafler  than  its  oivn  reafon  and  interefl  di&ated.  In  all  the  conver- 
faticns  ivhcre  I  have  been  prefent  -,>pon  this  fuhjetl,  the  idea  always  tvaSf 
that  zi- hen  fuch  a  time,  from  the  general  opinion  of  the  nation,  fl^ all  arrive y 
thai  the  honourable  and  liberal  method  <would  be,  to  mahe  a  handfome  pre- 
fent in  fee  f.mple  to  the  perfon,  ruhoever  he  may  he,  that  Jlo  all  then  he  in  the 
monarchical  nffce,  and  for  him  to  retire  to  the  enjoyment  of  private  Ifcy. 
pffejfing  hisfl:are  of  general  rights  and  privileges,  and  to  he  no  more 
Gcccrinfai'e  to  the  public  f n  his  time  and  his  condaSi  than  any  other  ci'izen.. 


HIGH  T  S     O  F    M  A  N.  247 

able  to  do  any  of  tlicfe  things,  would  ramble  into  tlie  garden,  or  the 
field,  and  gather  what  it  thoughr  tlie  prcttieft  flower  it  could  find, 
though,  perhaps,  it  iriight  be  but  a  fimple  weed.  The  parent  would 
be  more  gratified,  by  fucli  a  variety,  than  if  the  whole  of  ihem  had 
acled  on  a  concerted  plan,  and  each  had  made  exa6lly  the  fame  of- 
fering. This  would  have  the  cold  appearance  of  contrivance,  or  th.- 
harfli  one  of  control.  But  of  all  unwelcome  things,  nothing  would 
more  afHicl  the  parent  than  to  know,  that  the  whole  of  them  had 
afterwards  gotten  together  by  the  ears,  boys  and  girls,  fighting, 
fcratching,  reviling,  and  abufing  each  other  about  which  \v:\s  the  beil 
or  the  worft  prefcnt.. 

Why  may  v/e  not  fappofe,  that  the  great  Father  of  all  is  pleafed 
v,^!th  variety  of  devotion;  and  that  the  greated  offence  we  can  a6t,  is 
that  by  which  we  feek  to  torment  and  render  each  other  miferable. 
For  my  ov/n  part,  I  am  fully  fatisficd  that  what  1  am  now  doing,  with 
an  endeavour  to  conciliate  mankind,  to  render  their  condition  happy, 
to  unite  nations  that  have  hitherto  been  enemies,  and  to  extirpate  the 
horrid  practice  of  v/ar,  and  break  the  chains  of  fiavery  and  opprellion, 
Is  acceptable  in  his  fight,  and  being  the  beft  fervicc  I  can  perform, 
I  afl  it  chearfully. 

I  do  not  believe  that  anX-^'SS-JB^S*  °^*  v/hat  are  called  dodirinal 
points,  think  alike  who  think  at  all.  It  is  only  thofe  who  have  not 
thought  that  appear  to  agree.  It  is  in  this  cafe  as  with  what  is  called 
the  Britifli  conilitution.  It  has  been  taken  for  granted  to  be  good, 
and  encomiums  have  fupplied  the  place  of  proof.  But  when  the  na- 
tion comes  to  examine  into  principles  and  the  abuf^s  it  admits,  it  will 
be  found  to  have  more  dcfedls  than  I  liave  pointed  out  in  this  work 
and  the  form.er. 

As  to  v,-;iat  are  called  national  religions,  we  may,  with  as  much 
propriety,  talk  of  national  gods.  It  is  either  political  craft  or  the 
remains  of  the  pagan  fyftem,  when  every  nation  had  its  feparate  and 
particular  deity.  Amoqg  all  the  writers  of  the  Engl.'di  church  cler- 
gy, who  have  treated  on  the  general  fubjedt  of  religion,  the  prefent 
bifhop  of  LandafF  has  not  been  excelled,  and  it  is  with  much  pleafure 
that  I  take  this  opportunity  of  exprefiing  this  token  of  refpevil. 

I  have  now  gone  through  the  whole  of  the  fubjccl:,  at  leail,  as  far 
as  it  appears  to  me  at  prefent.  It  has  been  my  inteniit^n  for  the  five 
years  I  have  been  in  Europe  to  offer  an  addrefs  to  the  people  of 
England  on  the  fubjeiSl  of  government,  if  the  opportunity  prefented 
itfclf  before  I  returned  to  America.  Mr.  Burke  has  tlirown  it  iit 
my  way,  and  I  thank  him.     Or,  a  cert;i:n  occafion,  three  years  a^o. 


248  P  A  I  N  Z  '  3     WO  R  K  S. 

I  prcfTed  hi'm  to  propofe  a  national  convention,  to  be  fairly  elected, 
for  tlie  purpofe  of  taking  the  Hate  of  the  nation  into  confideration  ; 
but  I  fcMnd,  that  however  Hrongly  the  parliamentary  current  was 
then  fcLting  againfl:  the  party  he  a6lcd  with,  their  policy  was  to  keep 
cvciy  thing  within  that  field  of  corruption,  and  truil  to  accidents. 
Long  experience  had  fliewn  that  parliaments  would  follow  any  change 
ofminiiters,  and  on  this  they  rciled  their  hopes  and  their  expec- 
tations. 

Formerly,  when  divifions  arofe  refpefting  governments,  recourfe 
was  had  to  the  fword,  and  a  civil  war  enfued.  That  favage  cuflom  is 
exploded  by  the  new  fyftem,  and  reference  is  had  to  national  conven- 
tions. Difcufnon  and  the  general  v.  ill  arbitrates  the  queflion,  and  to 
this,  private  opiiiion  yields  with  a  good  grace,  and  order  is  preferved 
uninterrunted. 

Some  gentlemen  have  affecLed  to  call  the  principles  upon  which  this- 
w^ork  and  the  former  part  of  the  PJights  of  Man  are  founded,  "  a  new- 
fangled dodlrine."  The  queftion  is  not  vv^iether  thofe  principles  are 
new  or  old,  but  whether  they  are  right  or  wrong.  Suppofe  the  for- 
mer, 1  v.'iil  fnevv'  their  effe6l  by  a  figure  eafily  tmdcrilood. 

It  is  now  tov/ards  tJie  middle  of  February.  Were  I  to  take  a  tur« 
into  the  coiaitry,  the  trees  would  2)refent  a  leaflefs  winterly  appear- 
ance. As  people  are  apt  to  plug  twigs  as  they  go  along,  I  perhaps 
might  GO  the  fame,  and  by  chance  might  obferve,  that  a  Jitigle  hud 
on  that  twig  had  begun  to  fwell.  I  Ihould  reafcn  very  unnaturally 
or  rather  not  reafon  at  all,  to  fupp(5fe  ibis  was  the  only  bud  in  Eug 
land  which  had  this  appearance.  Inftead  of  deciding  thus,  I  fliould 
Inllantly  conclude,  that  the  fame  appearance  was  beginning,  or  about 
to  begin,  every  where  ;  and  though  the  vegetable  ileep  will  continue 
longer  on  fome  trees  and  plants  than  on  ethers,  and  though  fome  of 
them  may  not  hh^orn  for  two  or  three  years,  all  will  be  in  leaf  in  the 
fummer,  cxctpt  thofe  which  are  rotten.  Wliat  pace  the  political 
fummer  m.ay  keep  with  the  natural,  no  human  forefight  can  deter- 
mine. It  is,  however,  not  diflicult  to  perceive  that  the  fpring  is  be- 
gun.— Thus  wifning,  as  I  fmcerely  do,  freedom  and  happinefs  to  all 
?iations,   I  clofe  the  second  part. 


9 


fusmm9mJH^ux£J.l!£^■^w<uii^vJ>3t■J^^^rn.m^9lmf.3•y>i^'^m'»fli 


APPEND    I    X 


inirar»"iiM 


Af 


.S  the  publication  of  this  work  has  been  delayed  beyond  the  timt 
ktended,  I  think  it  not  iir.proper,  aU  circumilances  confidered,  to. 
(late  the  caiifes  that  have  occafioned  that  delay. 

The  reader  will  probably  obfcrve^.that  feme  parts  in  the  plan  con-, 
tained  in  this  work  for  reducing;  the  taxes,  and  certain  parts  in  Mr. 
Pitt's  fpeech.at  the  opening  of  the  prefcnt  feiTion,  Tuefday,  January 
3^,  are  fo  much  alike,  as  to  induce  a  belief,  that  either  the  author 
had  taken  the  hint  from  Mr.  Pitt,  or  Mr.  Pitt  from  the  author. — I 
will  firft  point  out  the  parts  that  are  fimilar,  and  then  ftate  fuch  cir- 
cumuances  as  1  am. acquainted- with-,  leaving  the  reader  to  make  his 
«wn  conclufion. 

CoTifidering  it  as  almoft  an  unprecedented  cafe,  that  taxes  fhould 
be  propofed  to  be  taken  off,  it  is  equally  extraordinary  tliat  fuch  a 
meafure  fhould  occur  to  two  perfons  at  the  fame  time  ;  and  dill  more 
fo  (confidering  the  vaft  variety  and  multiplicity  of  taxes)  that  they 
fhjeuld.lut  on  the  fame- fpecific  taxes.  Mr.  Pitt  has  mentioned,  in 
his.  rpeech,  the  tax. on  carts  and  fwaggons — -that  ow  female  fervants — 
the  lowering  the  tax  on  candles ^  and  the  taking  off  the  tax  of  three 
fhillings  on  boufes  having  under  feven  windows. 

Every  one  of  thofc  fpecinc  taxes  are  a  part  of  the  plan  contained 
in  this  work,  and  propofed  aifo  to  be  taken  off.  Mr.  Pitt's  plan,  it 
is  true,  goes  no  farther  than  to  a  rcdu<ftion  of  three  hundred  and 
twenty  thoufand  pounds  ;  and  the  reduftion  propofed  in  this  work, 
to  nearly  fix  millions.  I  have  made  my  calcul.ritions  on  only  fixteen  mil- 
lions and  an  half  of  revenue,  Hill  afferting  that  it  was  very  n^^arly,  if  not 
<juite,  fevjenteen  millions."  Mr.  Pitt  fliates  it  at  ^.16,690,000.  I  know 
enough  of  the  matter  to  fay,  that  he  has  not  c«z;fr{lated  it.  Havin-x 
thus  given  the  particulars,  which  correfpondin  this  work  andhisfpeech, 
I  will  ftate  a  chain  of  circumftances  that  may  lead  to  fome  explanation. 

The  firft  hint  for  leffening  the  taxes,  and  tliat  as  a  coiifcqitence  flow- 
ing^ frpm  the  French. revolution,  is  to  be  found  in  the  Address  and 

Vol.  II,  K  k 


25°  1'  A  I  N  E  ^  s    W  O  R  K  S. 

■    :  -  A  ■..  A  -^  '1    .     ■■ 

DfCLARATiOK  of  the  gentletnen  who  met  at  ihcr  Thatchcd-Houfe 
tavern,  Augufl  20,  1791.  Among  many  other  particulars  ilated  n\ 
that  addrefs,  Ls  the  follov/ing,  put  ss  an  interrogation  to  the  govern- 
ment oppofers  of  the  French  revolution.  ^^  j4re  the^  forry  that  the 
*^  prclencs  for  miv  cppnjjtvs  taxesy  and  the  occafion  for  continuing  many 
**  old  taxes  ivVl  he  at  an  end?** 

It  is  well  known,  tfiat  the  perfons  who  chiefiy  frequent  the 
Thatched-  Houfe  tavern,  are  men  of  court  conneclioFfS,  and  fo  much 
did  they  take  this  addrefs  and  declaration  refpe6ling  the  French  re- 
vohition  and  the  reduction  of  tajies  in  difguft,  that  the  landlord  was- 
undei'  the  neccfTiLy  of  informing  the-  gentlemen,  who  compofcd  the 
meeting  of  the  20th  of  Auguil,  and  who  prOpofcd  holding  another 
iilceting,  that  he  could  not  receive  them.* 

What  was  only  hinted  in  the  addrefs  and  dr;claration  rcfpe6ling 
taxes  and  principlejf  of  government,  will  be  foiiud  reduced  to  a  rcgu- 
Jar  fydem  in  this  work.  But  as  Mr.  Pittas  fpccch  contains  fome  of 
die  fame  things  refpecting  taxes,  I  now  come  to  give  the  crfcumftatii? 
ces  Before  aBudeiJ  td. 

'  ''Tii^  cafe  iV:  This  work  was  intended  to  be  pubhHied  jull  before 
the  meeting  cf  parliament,  and  for  that  purpofe  a  ccniiderable  part  oJf 
the  copy,  was  put  into  the  pn'ijter'"s  hands  in  September,  and  alltl\e 
remaininij  copy,  as  far  as  page  j60)  which  contains  the  part  to  which 
Mr.  JPitVs  fpeech'i*  fimilai;,  was  given  to  him  full  fix  weeks  before 

*  ihe  g^nflenirtfr  'tvho  finned  the  ctddf-cfs  and  dechration  as  chairmam 
ef  the  nteetlngy  Mr.  Home  Tochey  hang  generally  fv.ppojcd  tale  the  per  font 
"jjho  dre'iv  it  up^  and  having  fpoken  much  in  commcndailon  &f  it,  has  been 
jocularly  accufed  of  pra'fwg  k'ls  oivn  tuork^  'To  free  him  from  this  emh(jr->- 
i-ajfinent,  and  tofave  him  the  repeated  trouble  of  metitiotitng  the  author,  as 
he  has  not  failed  to  doy_  I  male  rio  hcfiLation  in  faying  that  as  the  opportunity- 
if  hencjliing  ly  the  French  revel ution  eajlly  occurred  to  me,  I  drew  up  the 
publication  in  quefion,  and  Jloenved  it  to  him  and  feme  ether  gentlemen  i 
nvho,  fully  approving  it,  held  a  meeting  for  the  pmpofe  of  making  it  public, 
andfubfcribed  to  the  arnoinrt  of  fifty  guirieaf  to  defray  the  expence  of  advcr- 
iyiKgr^  ,  IMM"^  there  are  at  this  time  jii.  JEnglafld, .  a  greater  number,  of 
inen  a6iing  on  difittierefted principhs,\and dciermhied.io  look  intoth(  nc^f&ri 
iind practices  cf goveninunt thefnfehcs,  and.fiof  llifidly  trvji,  as  has  liltherto 
been  the  cafe,  either  fogoverianeM  generally,  or  to  p^irliaments,  or  to  par^ 
liamentary  jjipoflion,  than  at  city  former  period.  Had  this  been  done  a 
(tntury  a^Of  cor  rapt  ion  c:;d  taxalian  had  net  arri'VcdtQ  the  height  they  ^i*^ 
m.mf  ai.  .'  . 


APPENDIX.  2;i 

.JLn€  meeting  of  parliament,  and  he.  wag  informed  oC  the  tim(i- at  which 
It  was  to  appear.     He  had  contpofsd  nearly  the  \yhoIe  ^bout  3  fort- 
night before  the  time  of  Parliament  meetings   and  had  printed  as  £ar 
as  page  1 12,  and  had  given  me  a  proof  of  the  next  fhett,  up  to  page 
128.      It  was  then  in  lafiicient  forvvardntTs  to  be  out  at  the  time  pro- 
pofjd,  as  two  other  fnects  were  ready  for  ftriking  off.      I  hud  before 
told  him,   that  if  he  thought  he  rtiould  be  ilraightened  for  time,   I 
.  could  get  part  of  the  work  done  at  another  prefs,  which  he  defired 
me  not  to  do.      In  tliis  manner  the  work  Itood  on  the  Taefday  fort- 
night preceding  t!ie  meeting  of  parliament,  when  all  at  once,  without 
any  previous  Intimation,   though  I  had  been  with   him    ^he  evening 
before,    he  Tent  me  by  one  of  his  workmen,   all  the  remaining  copy, 
from  page  i  12,  declining  to  go  on  with  the  work  en  any  conji  deration  * 
To  account  for  this  cxiraoi-dinary  conduft  I  was  totally  at  a  lofs, 
as  he  (lopped  at  the  part  where  the  arguments  on  fyftems  and  princi- 
ples of  government  clofed,  and  where  the  plan  for  the  reduction  of 
takes,  the  education  of  children,  and  the  fuppcrt  o£  the  poof  and  the 
aged  begins  ;   and  ftill  more  efpecially,  as  he  had,  at  the  time  of-  his 
ijegijining  to' print,  and  before  he  had  feen  the  whole  copy,  offered  .a 
?thou fan d  pounds  for  the  copy-right,  together  with  the  future  copy* 
VIght  of  the  former  part  of  the  Rights  of  Van.     I   told  theperfoa 
Who  brought  me  this  offer  that  I  fliould  dot  accept  it,  and  wlihedv  it 
ho^  to  be  Venewed,  giving  him  as  my  reafon,  that  tbough  I  believed 
tlie  printer  to  be  an  honefl  man,  ]  would  never  put  it  in  the  powe.i*  of 
any  printer  or  publi!her  to  fupprefs  or  altera  work  of  mine,  bv  mak- 
ing him  mafter  of  the  copy,  or  give  to  him  the  right  of  fclhug  it  to 
any  miaiR;er,   or  to  any  other  perfon,  or  to  treat  as  a.rnere'mjitter  pf 
traSic,  that  which  I  intended  Ihoiild  operate  as  a  principle. ' 
'     His  refufal  to  complete  the  work  (which  he  Could  not  parchafc) 
obliged  me  to  feek  for  another  printer,  and  this  of  cdnfequerice  would 
throw  the  publication  bark  till  after  the  meeting  of  parliament,  other- 
wife  it  would  have  appeared  that  Mu  Pitt  had  only  taktfn 'taken  lip 
a  part  of  the  plan  which  I  had  more  fully  ftated.  "v.''  !^'.^^\'^   '^ 

' "  Whether  that  gentleman,  or  any  other,  had  feen  the  w6r1c'cVa.n)ir 
paft'of  it,  Is  rhore  than  I  have  authority  to  fay.  But  the  manner  in 
which  the  w-ork  wns  returned,  and  the  particular  time  at  which  this 
HVas  done,  and  that  after  rhe  off;^rs  he  haci  madeVare- fufpicieiis  clr- 
ciimftances'i'^'-I  know  what  thd'opinlon  of  bookfellers  and  publiihera 
IS  opon  fiicli'a  cafe,  but  as  to  my  own  opinion,  I  choofe  to  ma^e'hb 
"declaration.  Tiiere  are  many  ways  by  v.-hich  proof  (heels  may  be 
procured  by  other  perfons  before  a  v/orlc  pubhcly  appears  j  to  which 
I  fhall  add  a  certai.'i  circumilanccy- which  is. 


252  -P  A  I  N  E  '  s  \V  0-R  K  S. 

Aminiften'al  bookfelkr  in  PJccadiHy- who  has  been  employed,   t% 

common  report  fays,  by  a  clerk  of  one  of  the  beards  clofely  cor.- 
•  nefted  with  the  miniilry  (the  board  of  trade  and  plantation  of  which 
^  Hawk(bury   is  prcfidcnt)    to  piiblifh  what  he  calls  ir.y  lAk  (I  wifli 

his  own  life  and  that  thofe  of  the  cabinet  were  as  good)  ufed  to  have 
^his  books  printed  at  the  fame  printing  office  that  I  employed;  but 
•when  the  former  part 'of  the    Rigks  of  Alan  came  out,   he  took  his 

work  av/ay  in  dudgeon  ;  and  about  a  wedc  or  ten  days  before  the 
■printer  returned  my  copy,  he  came  to  make  him  an  offer  of  his  work 

tigam,  Avhich  was  accepted.      This  would  confequently  gi\e  him  ad- 

■  miffion  into  the  printing  ofnce  where  the  fheets  of  this  work  were 
then  lying  ;  and  as  bookfellers  and  printers  are  free  with  each  otherj 
he  would  have  the  opportunity  of  feeing  what  was  going  on. — Be  the 
cafe  however  as  it  may,  Mr.  Pitt's  plan,  little  and  diminutive  as  it  is, 
would  have  made  a  very  auk  ward  appearance,  had  this  work  appeared 

'&t  the  time  the  printer  had  engaged  to  finifh  it. 

■  1  have  now  ftated  the  particulars  Vvhich  occalioned  the  delay,  from 
■the  prcpofal  to  purchafe,  to  the  refufal  to  print.     If  all  the  gentlemen 
•are  innocent,   it  is  very  unfortunate   for  them  that  fuch  a  variety  of 
fufpit-ious  circumllances  fliould,   without  any  dcfign,   arrange  them*     i 
felvcs  together. 

Having  now  finifhed  this  part,  I  will  conclude  with  tlating  sRother 
circurnftance. 

About  a  fortnight  or  three  weeks  before  the  meeting  of  parliament^ 
a  fm.all  addition,  amounting  to  about  twelve  fhiHings  and  fix  pence  a 
year,  ^was  made  to  the  pay  of  the  foldiers,  or  rather,  their  pay  was 
docked  (o  much  Icfs.  Some  geiitlemen  who  knew  in  part,  that  this 
work  would  contain  a  plan  of  reforms  refpefting  the  oppreffed  condf- 
tion  of  foldiers,  v.'illicd  me  to  add  a  note  to  the  work,  fignifying,  that 
the  part  upon  that  fnbjecl  had  been  in  the  printer's  hands  feme  weekis 
before  that  addition  of  pay  waspropofed.  I  declined  doing  this,  lefl 
it  flioyld  be  interpreted  into  an  air  of  vanity,  or  an  endeavour  to  ex- 
cite fufpicion  (for  which  perhaps  there  might  be  no  grounds)  that 
fome  of  the'  government  gentlemen,   had,    by  fome  means  or  other^,  ,     .^;^ 

made  out  what  this  work  would  contain  ;    and  had  not  the  printing  o- 

.  T3lnno'' 

been  interrupted  fo  as  to  occafion  a  delay  beyond  the  time  iixed   for. 

publication,  nothing  contained  in  this  appendix  would  have  appeared. 

THOMAS  PAINE.  -bnc 


j8g^Mji;^J•^'.'^^t■-^^-■^'^l^i'^^^^'■f^-'>*^t*t^^^^^^^ 


TO  THE  AUTHORS  OF 


'  THE     K  E  P  UB  L  I  G  A  N.'^ 


GENTLEMEN, 


M, 


.  DUCHASTELET  has  mentioned  to  me  the  intention  of 
fome  perfaiis  to  commence  a  work  under  the  title  of  **  The  Repuh" 

As  T  am  a  citizen  of  a  country  which  knows  no  other  majefLy 
than  that  of  the  people — no  other  government  than  that  of  the  repre- 
fentative  'body — no  other  fovereignty  than  that  of  the  laws,  and 
which  is  attached  to  France  both  by  alliance  and  by  gintitude,  I 
voluntarily  offer  you  my  fervices  in  fupport  of  principles  as  honourable 
to  a  nation  as  they  are  adapted  to  promote  the  happinefs  of  mankind, 
I  offer  them  to  you  with  the  more  zeal,  as  I  know  the  moral,  lite- 
rary, and  political  charafter  of  thofe  who  are  engaged  in  the  under- 
taking, and  find  myfelf  honoured  in  their  good  opinion. 

But  I  mud  at  the  fame  time  obferve,  that  from  my  ignorance  of 
the  French  language,  my  works  muft  neceffarily  undergo  a  tranfla- 
tion ;  they  can  of  courfe  be  but  of  little  utility,  and  my  offering  mud 
confdl  more  o£  wlflies  than  fervices — I  muft  add,  that  1  am  obliged 
to  pafs  a  part  of  this  fummer  in  England  and  Ireland. 

As  the  public  has  done  me  the  unmerited  favour  of  recognizing  mc 
under  the  appellation  of  - '  Common  Senfe,"  which  Is  my  ufual  figna- 
ture,  I  {hall  continue  it  in  this  pubheaiion  to  avoid  miPcakes,  and  to 
prevent  my  being  fuppofed  the  author  of  works  not  my  own.  As  t« 
ray  political  principles,  I  fhall  endeavour,  In  this  letter,  to  trace  their 


2|4  PAIN£*3    WO  R  KS, 

general  features  in  fucli  3  Wanner,  as  that  they  cannot  be  nyTiinacfi 
•ftood. 

It  1*3  defirable  in  moil;  infiances  to  avoid  that,  which  may  give  even 
the  leall  fufpiclon  with  refpedl  to  the_part  meant  to  be  adopted,  and 
particularly  on  the  prefent  occafion,  where  a  perfect  clearnefs  of  ex- 
preffion  is  neceflary  to  the  avoidance  of  any  pcflible  minnterpreta- 
tion.  1  am  happy,  therefore,  to  find,  that  th<i  work  in  quelti'on  is 
(entitled  "  The  Republican.^*  This  word  expreflVs  perfedJy  tlie  idea 
which  we  ought  to  have  of  government  in  general — res  npuhllca — the 
J)ublic  aiTairs  of  a  nation. 

As- to  the  word  monarchy,  though  the  addrefs  and  intrigue  of 
courts  have  rendered  it  faniiliar,  it  does  not  contain  the  lefs  of  re- 
prouch  or  if  inf  It  to  a  nation.  The  word,  in  its  immediate  and 
original  fenfe,  (^^mh^^  the  ahfoluie  power  of  a  fwgle  indlv'nluali  who  may 
prove  a  fool,  an  hypocrite,  or  a  tyrant.  The  appellation  admits  of 
r.o  other  interpretation  than  that  which  is  here  given.  France  is 
therefore  not  a  monarchy  ;  it  is  infulted  when  called  by  that  name. 
The  fervile  fpirit  which  chara6terifes  this  fpecies  of  government  ia 
banifhed  from  France,  and  this  country,  like  Amlrica,  can  now  af- 
fofd  to  monarchy  no  more  than  a  glance  of  difdam. 
'  Of  the  •^*iV>rs  which  monarchical  ignorance  or  knavery  has  fptead 
thrbiigh  the  world,  the  one  which  bears  the  marks  of  th<]  moft  dex- 
terous invention,  is  the  opinion  that  the  fyflem  of  repvbRcanlfm  isohl^ 
adapted  to  a  fmall  country,  and  that  a  monarchy  Is  fuited,  on  the  con- 
trary, to  thofe  of  greater  extent.  Such  is  the  language  of  courts,  an|i 
fiich  the  fentiments  which  they  have  canfed  to  be  adopted  in  monai** 
ehk:  countries ;  but  the  opinion  is  contrary  at  the  fame  time  to  pff^^ 
ciple  and  to  experience.         •  .  .  v3 

The  government,  to  be  of  real  ufe,  fliould  poflefs  a  complete  ^no%y-« 
ledge  of  all  the  parties — all  the  circumftances,  and  all  the  intcreils  of 
a  nation.  The  monarchic  fyftem,  in  confcqucnce,  Inftead  of  being 
fuited  to  a  country  of  great  extent,  would  be  more  admifiible  in  a 
fmall  territory,  where  an  individual  mi.y  be  fuppcfed  to  know  the 
^alrs  and  the  Interefls  of  the  whole.  But  when  it  is  attempted  to 
extend  this  individual  knowledge  to  the  affairs  of  a  great  country,  \\\t 
capacity  of  knowing  bears  no  longer  any  proportion  to  the  extent  or 
multiphcity  of  the  objects  which  ought  to  be  knowrt,  atid  the  gov^ril- 
ment  inevitably  falls  from  Ignorance  into  tyranny.  For  the  proof  of 
this  pofition  we  need  only  look  to  Spain,  Russia,  Gei  many,  Tuk* 
KEY,  ^nd  the  whole  of  the  eaftern  continent — Countries  for  the '.deJj^ 
verancc  cf  which  I  offer  my  moft  lincere  wi/h<e3.'   ^^'  ^''   ''*'"'   ''^'   '  '' 


L  ETTE  R,  &c  25^ 

On  the  contrary,  the  true  repuhlican  fyftem,  by  ele6lioti  and  repre- 
fentation,  offers  the  only  means  which  are  known,  and  In  my  opinioii 
the  only  mean*  which  are  poflible  of  proportioning  the  wifdom  and 
the  information  of  a  government  to  the  ciLtent  of  a  country. 

The  fyftem  of  rtpreftntat'ion  is  the  llrongeft  and  moft  powerful 
centre  that  can  be  devifed  for  a  nation.  Its  attraflion  afts  fo  power- 
fully that  men  give  it  their  approbation  even  without  reafoning  on 
thecaufe;  and  Fkancf,  however  d'ftant  its  feveral  part*,  finds  itfelf 
at  this  moment  an  "duhok,  in  its  central  rcprefentation.  The  citizen  is 
aflfured  that  his  rights  are  proteded,  and  the  foldler  feels  that  he  is 
no  longer  the  flave  of  a  defpot,  but  that  he  is  become  one  of  the  na- 
tion,  and  interefted  of  courfe  in  its  defence. 

The  flates  at  prefent  ftyled  repuhlican^  as  Holland^  Genoa,  Venice^ 
Bcrney  Ifjc.  are  not  only  unworthy  of  the  name,  but  are  adually  in 
oppofition  to  every  principle  of  <2  repuhlican  governm.cnt,  and  the 
countries  fubmittcd  to  their  power  are,  truly  fpeaking,  fubjeded  to 
an  arr^ocratic,,  (i^yery  ! 

-  It  is,  perhaps,  impolTible  in  the  firft  fteps  which  are  made  in  a  re- 
volution to  avoid  all  kind  of  error,  in  principle  or  in  pra6tice,  or  ij) 
fome  inftances  to  prevent  the  combination  of  both.  Before  the  fenfe 
of  a  nation  is  fufficiently  enlightened,  and  before  men  have  entered 
into  the  hgbits  of  a  free  cornmunication  with  each  other  of  thteir  j\4* 
tural  thoughts,  a  certain  referve — a  timid  prudence  feizes  on  i the  hu- 
man mind,  and  prevents  it  from  attaining  its  level-^with  that  vigxroj: 
and  promptitude  that  belongs  to  right — An  example  of  this  influence 
difcovers  itfelf  in  the  commencement  of  the  prefent  revolution:?  ^t 
happily  this  difcovery  has  been  made  bcfbre  the  conftitution,  was. 
completed,  and  in  time  to  provide  a  remedy.  -  -^  6J  f><ff>  yiqi:/ 

The  hereditary  fuccejjion  C5in  never  exift  as  a  matter  of  r/j-/^/  ,-'  It  i*^ 
a  nullity — a  nothing.  To  admit  the  idea,  is  to  regard  man  as  a  fp.ecies 
of  property  belonging  to  fome  individuals,  either  born  or  to  be  bornl 
It  is  to  confider  our  defcendants,  and  all  pofterity,  as  mere  animal;* 
,)^^ithp^t  ^  right  pea  will  \  ll  is,  in  fine,  the  moft  bafe  and  humiliat* 
Jng  idea,  that  ever  .degraded  the  human  fpc<:ie6,  and  which,  for  thi?. 
honour  of  humanity,,  fhould  be  deftroyed  for  ever. 

The..j,de^  of  here^^tary  fucceffion  is  fo  contrary  to  the  right?,  of 
map,  ^h^.t.:iff,w/2  \y^fe  ourCelves  to  be  recalled  to  cxiftence,  i n Head  of- 
laeing  veplftced -^y  our  p^fterjty,  weihould  not  have  the  right  of  d(?T. 
priving  ourfelves /beforehand  of  thofe  r/^/6/j-  which  would  then  pro- 
perly belong  to  us,  On  \vhat  ground,  then,  or  by  vvhat  authority^ 
do  we  dare  to  deprive  of  their  righto  thofe  children  who  will  fooa 


jfe^S  r  A  I  N  E  's     WOK  K  S. 

be  men  ?  Why  are  we  not  itruck  v»ith  the  injuftice  which  vrc  per- 
petrate on  our  defcendants,  by  endeavouring  to  tranfmit  them  as  a- 
vile  herd,  to  mailers  whole  vices  are  all  that  can  be  forefeen. 

AVhenev€r  the  Frcdch  conflitution  fnall  be  rendered  conformable  to*; 
its  Declaration  of  Rights  j  we  fnall  then  be  enabled  to  give  to  France, 
and  with  jullice,  the  appellation  of  a  civic  empire  ;  for  its  government 
will  be  the  empire  of  laws,  founded  on  the  great  republican  principles. 
oiekai've  reprefentatiotiy  and  x\-x  Rights  of  Man — But  monarchy  and, 
hereditary  fucceflion  are  incompatible  with  the  hafis  ol  its  conflitu- 
tion, 

I  hope  that  I  have  at  prefent  fuf&ciently  proved  to  you  that  1  am 
a  o-ood  republican  ;  and  I  have  fuch  a  confidence  in  the  truth  of 
thefe  principles,  that  I  doubt  not  they  will  foon  be  as .  nniverfal  in 
France  as  in  America.  The  pride  of  human  nature  will  aflift  their 
evidence,  will  contribute  to  their  cilabhfi-iment,  and  men  will  be 
afliamed  of  monarchy. 

I  am,  with  refpeft. 

Gentlemen, 

Your  friend, 

THOMAS  PAINE. 

Pfzr/j,  jmcy  1 791 


i»jy,g'^a";u>.r.jgas£g.^^^y^^j'--{ffjA^Bwiag^  '-••'  'yv--^v!fiii'^'i'.^^r- ••rv.  '^r^-'^.r^^^ss 


TO    THE 


A  B  B  E     S  Y  E  Y  A  S 


Pa;  13,   Sih  ju'7,   1:51. 


"A 


SIR, 


>T  the  moment  of  my  departure  for  En.qlimct,   I  rcr  J,   in  the 
Monkeur  of  Tuefday  laft,  your  letter,   in  which  you  give  the  chiil- 

lenge  on  the  fubje^l  cf  government,  and  oiTer  to  d^eFend  what  Is  called 

.the  monarchical  oplnlin  ajainll  the  repubh'can  fyflem. 

"   I  accept  of  vour  chalien<:re  with   plcafure  ;  and  I  '/^ace  fuch  a 
cOnfider.ce  in  the  fupeiio;ity  cf  the  republican  fyftem  over  that  nul- 
lity of   fyftem,  called  7Ki«.7r^>6)',  that  I  engage  not  to  exceed  the  ex- 
tent of  fifty  pages,  and  to  leave  you  the  liberty  of  taking  as  much  la- 
titude as  you  may  think  proper. 

**  The  refpeft  which  I  bear  your  moral  and  literary  reputation, 
will  be  your  fecimty  for  my  candour  in  the  courfe  of  this  difcuITion  ; 
but,  notwithftanding  that  I  fhall  treat  the  fubjeft  ferioufly  and  fm- 
'cerely,  let  me  premife,  that  I  confider  my  ftlf  at  liberty  to  ridicule, 
as  t-hey  deferve,  monarchical  abfurdities,  whenfoever  theoccaflon  fiial! 
prelent  itfclf. 

"  By  republicanifm,  I  do  not  underftand  what  the  name  fignifies 
in  Holland,  and  in  Come  parts  of  Italy.  1  underftand  fimply  a  go- 
vernment "by  reprefentation — a  government  founded  upon  the  prir.ci- 
ples  of  the  Declaration  of  Rights  ;  principles  to  wlu'ch  fcveral  p^.rts 
of  the  French  conftitution  arife  in  contradiftion.  The  declarations 
of  the  rights  of  France  and  America  are  but  one  and  the  fame  thing 
in  principles,  and  almoft  in  exprcfiions;  and  this  is  the  republicanifm 
which  I  undertake  to  defend  agaii.ft  what  is  called  monarchy  and  ar'if- 
tec  racy. 

Vol.  II.  L  1 


35^  PAINE's    WORKS. 

**  I  fee  with  pleafure,  that  in  refpe(il  to  one  point,  we  are  already 
agreed  ;  and  that  is  the  extreme  danger  of  a  civil  I'ljl  of  thirty  millions, 
I.can  d'fcover  no  reafon  why  one  of  the  parts  of  the  government 
fhould  be  fupported  with  fo  extravagant  a  profufion,  v/hilfl  the  other 
icarcely  receives  what  is  fufficient  for  its  common  Vv-ants. 

**  This  dangerous  and  difhonourable  difprcportion,  at  once  fupph'es 
the  one  v/ith  the  means  of  corrupting,  and  throws  the  other  into  the 
predicament  of  being  corrupted.  In  America  there  is  but  little  dif- 
ference, \vith  regard  to  this  point,  between  the  legiflative  and  the 
executive  part  of  our  government  ;  but  the  firil  is  much  better  at- 
tended to  than  it  is  in  France.* 

«<  In  whatfoever  manner.  Sir,  I  may  treat  the  fubjeft  of  which 
you  have  propofed  the  inveuigation,  I  hope,  that  you  will  not  doubt 
my  entertaining  for  you  the  higheft  efleem.  I  mufl  alfo  add,  that  I 
am  not  the  perfonal  enemy  of  kings.  Quite  the  contrary.  No 
man  more  heartily  wiihes  than  m.yfelf  to  fee  them  all  in  the  happy  and 
honourable  flate  of  private  individuals ;  but,  I  am  the  avowed,  open  and 
intrepid  enemy  of  what  is  called  m.onarchy;  and  I  am  fuch  by  prin- 
ciples which  nothing  can  either  alter  or  corrupt — by  my  attachment 
to  humanity;  by  the  anxiety  which  I  feel  within  myfelf,  for  the  dir*- 
nity  and  the  honour  of  the  human  race;  by  the  difguft  which  I  exepe- 
rience,  when  I  obferved  men  dire6led  by  children,  and  governed  by 
-brutes;  by  the  horror  which  all  the  evils  that  monarchy  has  fpread  over 
the  earth  excite  within  m.y  breaft  ;  and  by  thofe  fentiments-  which 
make  me  fhudder  at  the  calam.ities,  the  exadions,  the  wars,  and  the 
maffacres  with  v.hich  monarchy  has  cruflied  mankind  :  In  fliort  it 
is  againft  all  the  hell  of  monarchy  that  I  have  declared  war. 

(Signed)  THOMAS  PAINE.'' 

'^   A  deputy  to  the  c^ngrrfs  receives  about  a  guinea  and  a  half  daih  i 
<jnd provuions  are  cheaper  in  America  than  iti  France* 


Ml«iR>.  •}J\i'i*  9\i  ^^^9^i.Mi>^:'^lmlm:1au•^••gmiA^rrrv7rsu^UFs:ss'^sr,.l^xs^ 


ADDRESS 


TO    THE 


ADDRESSERS 


ON     THE     LATE 


P  R  0  C  L  A  M  A  r  I  0  N. 


G 


lOULD  I  have  commanded  circumftances  with  a  wifii,  I  know 
not  of  any  that  -would  have  more  generally  promoted  the  progrefs 
of  knowledge,  than  the  late  proclamation,  and  the  numerous  rotten 
borough  and  corporation  addreffes  thereon.  They  have  not  only 
ferved  as  advertlfements,  but  they  have  excited  a  fpirit  of  enquiry 
into  principles  of  government,  and  a  defire  to  read  the  Rights  of 
Man,  in  places,  where  that  fpirit  and  that  v/ork  were  before  un- 
known. 

The  people  of  England,  wearied  and  ftunned  with  parties,  and  al- 
ternately deceived  by  each,  had  almofl  vefigned  the  prerogative  of 
thinking.  Even  curiofity  had  expired,  and  a  univerfal  langour  had 
fpread  itfelf  over  the  land.  The  oppofition  was  vifibly  no  other  than 
a  conteft  for  pcv/er,  whilft  the  mafs  of  the  nation  flood  torpidly  by 
as  the  prize. 

In  this  hopelefs  ftate  of  things,  the  firft  part  of  the  Rights  of 
Max  made  its  appearance.  It  had  to  combat  with  a  llrange  mixture, 
of  prejudice  and  indifference  ;  it  flood  expofed  to  every  fpecies  of  newf- 
paperabufe  \  andbefidcs  this,  it  had  to  remove  the  obflrudlions  which 


,,# 


zSd  TAIK'E's     WORKS. 

Mr-  Burke's  rude  and  outrageous  attack  on   the  French  revoiuttofi^' 
had  artfu'ly  raifcd.  '  •j'^-: 

Uut  how  eanJ-y-  does  even  the  moPc  iHiterate  reader  dlftinjruifh  the' 
fpontant^ous  fenfaLions  of  the  heart,  from  the  laboured  produftlons 
of  the  brain  [  Truth,  whenever  it  can  fully  appear,  is  a  thing  fo  na- 
turally familiar  to  the  mind,  that  an  acqnain-tance  commenceb  at  firil 
iight.  No  artificial  light,  yet  difcovered.,  can  diiplay  all  the  proper- 
ties of  day 'light  ;  fo  neither  can  the  bell  invented  hdlion  fill  the  mind 
with  every  conviction  v.-hich  truth  begets. 

To  overthrow  Ivlr.  Burke's  fallacious  work  was  fcarcely  the  ope- 
ration of  a  day.  E"ea  the  phalanx  of  placemen  and  prnfioners,  who 
l;ad  given  the  tone  to  the  multitude,  by  clamouring  forth  his  pcli- 
lical  fame,  became  faddenly  fjlent  ;  and  the  final  event  to  himfelf  has 
been,  that  as  he  rcfe  like  a  rocket,  lie  fell  hke  the  flick. 

It  feldom  happens,  that  the  mind  rcfts  fatit^fied  with  the  fimple 
detection  of  error  or  impofition. — Once  put  into  motlonyjhat  motion 
foon  becomes  accelerated  ;  where  it  had  intended  to  ftop,  it  tlifcovers> 
new  reafons  to  proceed,  and  renews  and  continues  the  purfuit  far  be- 
yond the  limits  it  firfi:  prefcribed  to  itfclf. — Thus  it  has  happened  to- 
the  people  of  England.  From  a  detefHon  of  Mr.  Burke's  incohe- 
rent rhnpfodies,  and  ditirorted  fads,  they  began  an  enquiry  into  fir^ 
principles  of  government,  whilft  himfelf,  like  an  objeft  left  far  behind,' 
became  invirxble  and  forgotten. 

.Much  as  the  firtl  part  of  iIiGhts  of  Ma  ■•  imprefied  at  its  firfc 
appearance,  the  progrefRve  mind  foon  difcovered  that  it  did  not  go  far. 
enough.  It  detected  errors  ;  it  expofed  abfurdities  ;  it  fliook  the 
fabric  of  political  fuperPcition  -^  it  generated  new  ideas  ;  but  it  did  not 
]>roduce  a  regular  fyftem  of  principles  in  the  room  of  thofe  which 
it  difplaced.  And,  if  I  may  guefs  at  the  mind  of  the  govern- 
inent  party,  they  beheld  it  as  an  unexpected  gale  that  would  foon 
IjIow  over,  and  they  forbore,  like  failors  in  threatening  weather,  to 
vvhiUle,  left  they  fliould  increafe  the  vvind.  Every  thing,  on  their 
2)art,  was  profound  filence. 

When  the  fccond  part  of  "  Rights  of  Ma  v,  comh'inhig principle  and 
*■'-.  prafl'iccy''  was  preparing  to  appear,  they  affedled,  for  a  while,  to 
acl  with  the  fame  policy  as  before  ;  but  finding  their  filence  had  no 
iTjore  influence  in  fciiling  the  progrefs  of  the  work,  than  it  v/ould  have 
in  Hopping  the  progrefs  of  time,  they  changed  their  plan,  and,  af- 
fedled  to  treat  it  with  clamorous  contempt.  The  fpeech-making 
placemen  and  penfioners,  and  place  expectants,  in  both  houfcs  of 
|-aihi.mcntj  the  cvls  as  wtU  as  the  /«j,  reprcfented  it  as  a  filly,  inijg- 


ADDl^ESS  TO  THE  ADDRES'SEP.S.  i6t 

nificant  lierformance  ;  as  a  v.'ork  incapable  of  producing  any  elTcft, 
as  fomethiiig,  which  they  were  Tare  the  good  fenfe  of  the  people 
woul<i  either  defpife  or  indignantly  fpurn  ;  but  fLicli  was  the  over- 
trained avvk\vard«efs  with  which  they  harangued-  and  encouraged , 
cajh  other,  that  in  the  very  aft  of  declaring  thcip  confidence  they 
betrayed  their  fears. 

As  moil  of  the  rotten  borough  addreflers  arc  cbfcured  In  holes  and 
corners  throughout  the  country,  and  to  whom  a  newfpaper  arrives  as 
varely  as  an  almanac,  they  moil  probably  have  not  had  the  opportu- 
lilty  of  knowing  how  this  part  of  the  farce  (the  original  prelude  to 
all  the  addreiTes)  has  been  a6>ed.  For  t/je'ir  iriformation,  1  will 
iufpend  xi  while  the  more  ferlous  purpofe  of  my  letter,  and  entertain 
them  with  two  or  three  fpecciies  In  the  lull  fcfiion  of  parhament^r, 
which  will  fervc  them  for  politics  till  parliament  meets  again. 
;  You  muft  know,  genileir.en,  that  the  fecond  part  of  Rig h t s  of  TnIan^ 
(the  book  againil  which  you  have  been  prcfenting  addrciTts,  though 
it  is  mod  probable,  that  many  of  you  did  not  know  Ii )  v.  Is  to  have 
come  out  preclfely  at  the  time  that  parllameut  lail  met.  ]t  happened 
not  to  be  publi.fii:d  till  a  few  days  after.  But  as  it  was  well  known 
that  the  book  would  fnortly  appear,  the  parliamentary  oVatorii 
?a,tere4  into  a  very  cordial  coalition  to  cry  tlie  bock  d6\A^n,' ia^d 
\hey  begj^n  their  attack  by  crying  up  the  llej^!:gs  of  the  conllitutlcin. 

Had  it  been  your  fate  to  have  been  there,  you  could  nOtBiit"  have 
been  moved  to  the  heart-and-ppckets-felt  congratulations  th'atpWed 
between  all  the  parties  on  this  fubjedt  o( Ihjln^^s  ;  for  the  "c?//y"eii]oy 
places  and  penfious  and  finecures  as  well  as  the  ;//.f,'an'd  are  as  devoiitly 
attacned  to  the  firm  ol  the  houle.  .  .    ,  . 

rirOne  of  the  moll  confplcuuus  of  this. motley  groupe  is  tire  Cleric  of 
the  court  of  king's  bench j  who  calls  hlmfelf  lord  Stormon/.  He  is* 
alfo  called  jufllce-general  of  Scotland,^  and  keeper  of  Scoon"(an  oppo- 
fition  man)  and.  he  draws  from  the  public  for  thefe  nominal  oflices, 
not  lefs,  as  I  am  informed,  than  fix  thyufand  pounds  a  year^  and  he  i3, 
moft  probably,  at  the  trouble  of  counting  the  money,,  anc  figiiing  a 
irecflpt,  to  ihew,  periinps.rtlut  he.i.s^  qualified  to  be  clerk  "p^s  wefl  ^as 
j^jflice.    .lie  fpoke  as  tijllQiVb.;*,, ,  .    _         ._..  ,    "\,     -'^ 

-,:*'  T^iat  wf  fliall  all  be  unanimous, jn  cxprefiipig  <?«r"attachment  to 
*V.t^^LCpnllit^^^J9'V"f<  t he fe.  realms,  I_anijonJide}it*^  It  is  a  fubjc(5l 
«*t;^pp%whiGlijth<p,r< c^nhi^.'no  4iyided 'opuuon  f«  thh  houj^.  Tab  not' 
*3$Fii^nd.tp,%  4ecp  rcsijip.tbe  knpvyledge  of  t^e  donIlit9tJaViy1:ut 

ic   23i!.roH  li^od   ni   ,5ifTs.P)-rjx.  !>^^^^  b?.:\  Vc-'r^ 


261  PA  INE's    W  O  II  KS. 

"  /  take  upon  v.te  to  fay,  that  from  the  extent  of  wj-  knowledge  (for  I 
*'*  hnvefrj  many  thoUjfands  a  y:ar fur  noih'mg)  it  fippears  to  me,  that  from 
*'  the  period  of  the  revohition,  fur  it  Avas  by  no  means  created  then, 
**  it  has  been,  both  In  tljcory  2i\\i^  practice,    the  luffl  fyilem  that  eve^' 
"was  formed,     I  never   was    (he  means  lie  never  was  till  tictu)  a 
*'  dealei-  \i\  palhlcal cant.     My  hfe  has  not  been  occupied  in  that  <way, 
*'  but  the  fpeculationsof  late  rear?,  fern  to  have  taken  a  turn,  for  'which 
*'  I  cannot  accDunt,     When  I  came  into  public  hfe,  the  poh'tical  pam- 
"  phlets  of  the  tinie,   however  they  might  be  charged  with  the  heat 
"  and  violence  of  parties,  were  agreed  in  extolling  the  radical  beau- 
'*  ties  of  the  couditution  itfelf.       I  remember  (he  means  he  has  for- 
*'  gotten)  a  mofl  captivating  eulogium  on  its  charms  by  lord  Boling- 
"  broke,    where  he   recommends   his  readers  to  contemplate  it  in  all 
"  refpe6ts,  with  the  aauraiice  that  it  v/ould  be  found  more  eftimable 
*'  the   more   it  wr.s  fen.      I  do  rot  recollect  his  precife  words,    but  I 
*'  Willi  that  men  who  write  upon  thefe  fubjedis  v/ould  take  this  for  their 
*'  77:oJeU   inftead  of  the  political  pamphlets,  which  I  am  told,  are  nov/ 
*■'  in    circulailon    (fuch,   I  fuppofe,   as  Rights  of  Man) — pamphlets 
**  which  I  Imve  not  read,  and  vvhofe  purport  I  know  only   by  report 
*'  (he  means  perhaps  by  the  v.oife  tliey  make).      This,  ho\^''ever5  I  am 
*',  fure,  that  pamphlet^:  tcnt'ing  to  unfettle  the  public  reverence  for  the 
tf,cDn/Iiii:tirjn,  will  have  very  little  influence.     They  can  do  very  little 
*f.,harm — for  (Ly  the  hye  he  is  no  dealer  in  political  cant)  the  EngiHh  are  a 
^^.fober  thinking  people,  and  are  more  irnelligeni,  more  folld,  more  Jleady  iri 
',':.. tjjielr  opinions,  then  any  people  I  ever  had  the  fortune  io  fee.      (This  is 
*' pretty  v/elilaidon,   though,    fcr  a  nev/ beginner. )      But  if  there 
"  Tnould  ever  come  a  time  when   the  propagation  of  thofe  doctrines 
*l*.fnculd  agitate  the  public  mind,    I  am  fure,  for  eiery  one  of  your 
**  lordfhips,  that  no  attack  will  be  made  on  the  conftitution,    from 
^'  which  it  is  truly  f aid 'Cti2X.  nve  derive  all  our  pro fperity,  without  raif- 
*'^-m^ every  one  of  your  lorddiips  to  its  fupport.     It  will  then  be  found 
"  that  there  is  no  difference  among  us,  but  that  fwe  are  yz//  determined 
"  to.^/?<^7i J  or /^;7  together,  in  defence. of  the  inellimable rfyilem" — 
gf  places  and  penhons.  '.-.  aX:  ^r  ■-^''■■i-  '^^^'A  ^f'^^i^:  -!- 

After  Stormont,  on  the  oppofition  fide,  fat  down^-Up  rcfe  another 
mUelardl  on  the  minifterial  fide,  GretmUk.  This  liian  i6>3ght  to  be 
as  ftrong  in  the  back  as  a  mule,  or  xhefire  oi  a  malej^^t  it' would 
crack  with  the  weif;ht  of  places  and  offices*  -He  rofe,  however,  with- 
out feeling  any  incumbrance,  full  mailer  of  his  weight;  and  thiis-faia 
this  noblelord  to  t'other  noble  lord  !  ^'''^  ^^^  ^^'^     .:.bor,- 

"  The  patriotic  and  manly  mannei*  invvliich  the  noble  .lord  -has  i!e--'' 


.   ADDRESS  TO  THE  xlDDHESSERS.  253 

•*/  chr^d' his  fentiment??  o?i  the  fubjecl  of  the  conilitiition,  demands  my 
"  cordial  approbation.  The  nobis  viTcoiint  hzs  proved^  that  however 
<*  we  may  differ  on  particular  meafuresy  amidft  all  the  jars  and  difio- 
f*  nance  oi parties ^  we  are  unanimous  in  principle.  There  is  3.perfecl  and 
**  entire  confent  (between  us)  in  the  love  and  maintenance  of  the  con- 
"  flitution  as  happily  fiihfjHn;r^.  It  mull  undoubtedly  give  your  lord- 
*'  ftiips  concern,  to  find,  that  the  time  is  come!  (hfigh  ho !)  wh.en  there 
"  iQ propriety  in  thefe  expreffions  of  regard  r  o  (o  !  o  !  o  ! )  the  con- 
«  STiTUTioN.  And  that  there  are  men  (confound — their — pod*- 
**  tics)  who  diiTeminate  diod(.v\n(i^  hojlile  to  iYxg: genimie  fpirit  c^  ov^  ^-ji-ell 
"  balanced  fy/Iem  [it  is  certainly  well  balanced  when  both  fides  hold 
**  places  and  penfions  at  once).  I  agree  vvith  the  noble  vifcount 
*'  that  they  have  not  (I  hope)  much  fucc-fs.  I  am  convinced  that 
t*i  there  is.no  danger  to  be  apprehended  from  their  attempts  :  But 
**  it  is  /rw/y  important  and  confolatory  (to  us  pliice-m.en,  1  fuppofe)  to 
"  know,  that  if  there  fliould  ever  arife  a  fcrious  alarm,  there  is  but  or:.^ 
^^  fpirit,  one  fenfe  (and  that  fenfe,  I  prefume  is   not  common  fenfe )  and 

*'  one  determination  in  this  houfe" Vvdiich   undoubtedly  is  to  held 

all  their  places  and  penfions  as  long  as  they  can. 

Both  thofe  fpeeches  (excepting  the  parts  enclofed  in  parenlhefi.^^ 
which  are  added  for  the  purpofe  of  ilhijl  rati  fin)  are  copied  verbatim 
from  the  Morning  Chronicle  of  the  ill  of  February  laft;  and  when 
the  fituation  of  the  fpeakers  is  confidered,  trie  one  in  the  oppofitiou, 
and  the  other  ia  the  miniury,  and  both  of  them  living  at  the  public 
cxpence,  by  finecure,  or  nominal  places  and  oSces,  it  required  a  very 
unbluihing  front  to  be  able  to  deliver  them.  Can  thofe  men  feri- 
ouily  fuppofe  any  nation  to  be  fo  completely  blind  as  not  to  fee 
through  them?  Can  Stormont  imagine  that  the  political  cant,  with 
which  he  has  larded  his  haranp-ue,  will  conceal  the  craft  ?  Does  he 
not  know  that  there  never  was  a  cover  large  enough  to  hide  irl'df? 
Or  can  Grenville  believe,  that  his  credit  with  the  public  cncrcafes 
with  his  avarice  for  places  ? 

But,  if  thefe  orators  will  accept  a  fervice  from  me,  m  return  for  the 
allufions  they  have  made  to  the  Rights  of  Mar,  I  will  m.ake  a  fpeech 
for  either  of  them  to  deliver  on  the  excellence  of  the  conflitution,  that 
fliall  be  as  much  to  the  purpofe  as  what  they  have  fpokeii,  or  as  Bo^ 
Imghroke^s  captivating  encaniiinn.      Here  it  is.  '    '    '^■'    ''      •'■ 

"  That  we  fhall  all  be  unanimous  in  exprefiiiig  our  attachment  tr> 
the  conllitution,  I  am  confident.  It  is,  my  lords  incompreh?nfib]y 
good  :  But  the  great  v/onder  of  all  is  the  v/ifdom  ;  for-it  isi'''nriy 
lords,  the  wijejl  fyjlem  that  ever  ivas  formed* 


264  P  A  INE's    wo  RKS. 

"  With  iv-fpciR:  to  lis,  noble  lords,  ibough  the  vvorld  does  not  knor/ 
it,  it  is  very  well  known  to  u?,  that  v/e  havemore  wifdom  than  wc 
know  whnt  to  d<)  with ;  and  what  is  Hill  better,  my  lords,  we  hare  it 
ail  in  (lock.  I  d^fv  yoT2r  Icrdfiiips  to  prove,  that  a  tittle  of  it  hai^ 
been  ulcd  vet;  3nd  if  we  do  but  g'o  on,  my  lords,  with  the  frngah'ty 
we  h?.ve  hitherto  done,  Ave  diall  leave  to  our  hfi's  and  fucceffors,  when 
we  go  out  of  th.e  world,  the  whole  flock  of  wifdom,  untouched,  that  we 
brought  in  ;  and  there  is  no  doubt  but  they  will  follow  our  example. 
This,  my  lords,  is  one  of  the  blelTcd  efFeAs  of  the  hereditary  fyftem  ; 
for  we  can  never  be  wi.hout  v/i.dcrn  fo  long  as  we  keep  it  by  us,  and 
do  not  ufe  it. 

"  But,  m.y  lords,  as  iill  tliis  wifdom  is  hereditaiy  property,  for  the 
uM  benefit  cf  us  and.  our  heirs,  and  it  is  necefFarv  that  the  people 
(hould  kno-v  where  to  get  a  fupply  for  their  own  ufe,  the  excellenc* 
cf  our  cordlituLivOn  has  provided  a  king  for  this  very  purpofe,  and  for 
no  ofhc^.  .  Bu*-,  my  lords,  I  perceive  a  defect  to  whieh  the  conftitu- 
t!on  is  fiibjccl:,  and  v/nieh  I  propcfe  to  remedy  by  bringing  a  bill 
i.:::o  parliament  for  that  purpofe. 

"  The  conPLitution,  my  lords,  out  cf  delicacy,  I  prcfume,  hr,3  left 
it  as  a  m:atter  k}^ choice  to  a  king  whethei"  he  will  be  wife  or  not.  It 
h-js  not,  T  mean,  n;y  lords,  infifted  upon  it  as  a  confLitutional  point, 
which,  I  conceive,  it  ought  to  have  done;  for  I  pledge  m^'feif  to  your 
lordfiiips  to  prove,  and  that  with  true  patriotic  boUncfs,  that  he  has  no 
choice  in  ihe  matter.  The  biii,  m.y  lords,  that  I  (hall  bring  in  will  be 
to  declare,  that  tlte  conPiitution,  according  to  the  true  intent  and 
meaning  thereof,  docs  not  invcfl  the  king  with  this  choice  ;  our  an- 
ceflors  were  too  wife  to  do  that  ;  and,  in  order  to  prevent  any  doubtS 
that  might  otherwife  arife,  I  i]]:,}!  prepare,  my  lords,  an  cnading 
claufe,  to.  fix  the  wifdom  of  kings,  by  ad  (;f  parliament ;  and  then,  miy 
lords,  our  conRitution  will  be  the  wonder  of  the  world  ! 

"  Wifdom,  my  lords,  is  the  one' thing  needful  ;  but  that  there  may 
be  no  miftake  in  lliis  matter,  and  thnt  we  m.ay  proceed  confiftently 
with  the  true  v/ifdom  of  the  conftitution,  I  ihail  prcpofe  a  certain  cri- 
terion whtvi^hj  \\\t  exnH  quantify  of  ivlfdom  necelTary  for  a  king  may 
be  known.      [  Here  fl-.oujd  be  a  cry  of — Hear  him  !      Hear  him  !] 

*'•  It  is  recorded,  my  lords,  in  the  Statutes  at  large  of  the  Jews, 
"  a  book,  my  lords,  wliich  1  have  not  read,  and  whofc  purport  I  know 
"  only  by  report,"  Lut  perhaps  the  bench  of  b'rfhops  can  recoUcS  foniethlvg 
about  /*/,  that  Saul  gave  the  moll  convincing  proofs  of  royal  wifdom 
before  he  wa?  made  a  king,yi7/-  he  'was  fent  to  fteh  his  falhcr^s  afjh  and 
he  could  not  find  them,  '    >->''* 


ADDRESS  TO  THE  ADDRESSERS  2^5 

''  Here,  my  lords,  we  have,  moft  happily  for  us,,  a  cafe  in  point  : 
This  precedent  ought  to  be  ellabliflied  by  acB"  of  parh'amcnt ;  and 
every  king,  before  he  be  crowned,  ftiould  be  fent  to  feek  lu's  father's 
affes,  and  if  he  cannot  find  them,  he  ihall  be  declared  wife  endugh  to 
be  king,  according  to  the  true  meaning  of  our  excellent  conllitution. 
All,  therefore,  my  loi-ds,  that  v/ill  be  neceffary  to  be  done,  by  the 
enabling  claufe  that  I  fnall  bring  in,  will  be  to  inveft  the  king  before- 
hand with  the  quantity  of  vs'ifdom  neceffary  for  this  purpofe,  left  he 
fhould  happen  not  to  poffcfs  it ;  and  this,  my  lords,  we  can  do  with- 
out making  ufe  of  any  of  our  own. 

"  We  further  read,  my  lords,  in  the  faid  Statutes  at  large  of  the 
Jews,  that  Samuel,  who  certainly  was  as  mad  as  any  man-of-rights- 
man  now  a-days,  (hear  him  !  hear  him  !)  was  difpieafed,  and  even 
exafperated,  at  the  propofal  of  the  Jews  to  have  a  king,  and  he  warned 
them  againft  it  with  all  that  affurance  and  impudence  of  which  he  was 
mafler.  I  have  been  my  lords,  at  the  trouble  of  going  all  the  way 
to  Paferno/Ier-ro'ci',  to  procure  an  extraft  from  the  printed  copy.  I 
was  told  that  I  fhould  meet  with  it  there,  or  in  y^men-corner.,  for  I 
was  then  going,  m.y  lords,  to  rummage  for  it  among  the  curicfities  of 
the  antiquarian  foc'iety. — I  will  read  the  extrad  to  your  lordfhips,  to 
fhevv  how  little  Samuel  knew  of  the  matter. 

"  The  extract,  my  lords,  is  from  i  Samuel^  chap.  §. 

"  And  Samuel  told  all  the  words  of  the  lord  unto  the  people  that 
*<  afked  of  him  a  king. 

"  And  he  faid.  This  will  be  the  manner  of  the  king  that  fnall 
<*  reign  over  you.  He  will  take  your  fons  and  appoint  them  for 
"  himfelf,  for  his  chariots,  and  to  be  his  horfemen  ;  and  fom.e  fliall 
**  run  before  his  chariots. 

<*  And  he  will  appoint  him  captains  over  thoufands,  and  captains 
**  over  fifties,  and  will  fet  them  to  ear  his  ground  and  to  reap  his  har- 
♦*  veft,  and  to  make  his  inftruments  of  war,  and  inftruments  of  his 
**  charidts. 

"  And  he  will  take  your  daughters  to  be  confe(9:ionaries,  and  to  be 
**  cooks,  and  to  be  bakers. 

**  And  he  will  take  your  fields,  and  your  vineyards,  and  your  olive- 
yards,  even  the  beft  of  them,   and  give  them  to  his  fervants. 

"  And  he  will  take  the  tenth  of  your  feed,  and  of  your  vineyards, 
«*  and  give  to  his  officers,  and  to  his  fervants. 

"And  he  will  he  take  your  men-fervants,  and  your  maid-fervants, 
"  and  your  goodlieft  younjg;  men,  and  your  afTcs,  and  put  them  to  his 
*^  work. 

Y«i..  XL  M« 


266  P  A  I  N  E^f  s^^^V^O  R  K  S. 

"  And  he  will  take  the  tenth  of  your  ihcep,  and  ye  fhall  be  his 
**  fervants. 

"  And  ye  fhall  cry  out  in  that  day,  becaufe  of  your  king,  which 
"  ye  fliall  have  chcfen  you;  and  the  lord  will  not  hear  you  on  that 
"  day." 

«  Now,  my  lords,  what  can  we  think  of  this  man  Samuel  ?  Is  there 
^a  word  of  truth,  or  any  thing  like  truth,  in  all  that  he  has  faid?  He 
pretended  to  be  a  prophet,  or  a  wife  man,  but  has  not  the  event 
proved  him  to  be  a  fool,  or  an  incendiary  ?  Look  around  yo-u,  my  lords, 
.  an4  fee  if  any  thing  has  happened  that  he  pretended  to  foretel  ? 
Has  not  the  moil  profound  ps^ace  reigned  throughout  the  world  ever 
fince  kings  Vv'ere  in  fafhion  ?-  Are  not,  for  example,  the  prefent  kings 
of  Europe  the  moil  peaceable  of  mankind,  and  the  emprefs  of  Ruflia 
the  very  milk  of  human  kindnefs  ?  It  would  not  be  worth  having 
kings,  my  lords,  if  it  were  not  that  they  never  go  to  war. 

"  If  we  look  at  home,  my  lords,  do  we  not  fee  the  fame  things 
here  as  are  feen  every  where  dk  ?  Are  our  young  men  taken  to  be 
horfemen,  or  foot  foldiers,  any  more  than  in  Germany  or  in  Pruflia, 
or  in  Hanover  or  hi  Hcffe  ?  Are  not  our  failors  as  fafe  at  land  as  at  fea  ? 
Are  they  ever  dragged  from  th  :ir  hoir.es,  like  oxen  to  the  flaughter- 
houfe,  to  ferve  on  board  fhips  uf  war  ?  V/hen  they  return  from  the 
perils  of  a  long  voyage  with  the  merchandize  of  diflant  countries, 
does  not  every  man  lit  down  under  his  own  vine  and  his  own  fig-tree, 
~^in  perfect  fecurity  ?  Is  the  tenth  of  our  feed  taken  by  tax-gatherers, 
"br  is  any  part  of  it  given  to  the  king*s  fervants?  In  fhort,  is  noi  every 
ihin^  as  free  from  taxes  as  the  light  from  Heaven? 

**  Ah  \    my  lords,  do  we  not  fee  the  blelfed  effeft  of  having  kings 

\ji  every  thing  we  look  at  ?  Is  not  the  G.  R.  or  the  broad  R.  llampt 

"wpoh'eveYy  thing  ?  Even  the  fhoes,  the  gloves,  and  the  hats  that  we 

"wean'^are   enriched  with  the  imprefiion,   and*  all  bur  candles  blaze 

i!  Diii^nt-offcrin^r. 

*'  Befides  thefc  bleffings,  my  lords,  that  cover  us  from  the  fole  of 
the^  foot  to  the  crown  of  the  licad,  do  we  not  fee  a  race  of  youths 
gVbwIng  up  to  be  kings,  who  are  tht;  fey" p^^ragon«i'6f Virtue  ?  There 
is  not  one  of  them,  my  lords,  but' might;  b^'tthft'ed  wit'h  uriioid  gold, 
as  fafely  as  the  other.  Are  they  not  "^mor^foberj  hiteVJgeiit^nm'cfo'- 
**  /r//,  more  fie ady^^^  and  withal,  more  learned,  more  wife,  rnoi'e  eveiy 
thing,  than  any  youths  'we  "  ever  had  ihe  fortune  lo  fee\^^  '  Ah  !  fey 
bftls,  they  are  a  hopeful  fimly,  ''^^  ^^** 

.?«Tht  Meffed  profpefl  of  fuccefTion,  wli'ch  the  hation  has  at  this  feij^ 
fiicnf  "b^tforeats  e)-cs,  is  a  mcft  ar.dcmVpk  proof  of  the  excelled  <il 


ADDRESS  TO  THE  ADDRESSERS  267 

our  conllitution,  and  of  the  blefied  hereditary  fyftem  ;  for  notliing, 
my  lords,  but  a  conftitutlon  founded  on  the  trueil  and  pureft  wifdom 
could  admit  fuch  heaven-born  and  heaven-taught  charaAers  Into  the 
government, — Permit  me  now,  my  lords,  to  recal  your  attention  to 
the  libellous  chapter  I  have  juft  read  about  kings.  I  mention  this, 
my  lords,  becaufe  it  is  my  intention  to  m.ove  for  a  bill  to  be  brouglit 
into  parliament  to  expunge  that  chapter  from  the  Bible,  and  that  the 
lord  chancellor,  with  the  affiftance  of  the  prince  of  Wales,  the  duke 
of  York,  and  the  duke  of  Clarence,  be  requcfted  to  write  a  chapter 
in  the  room  of  it  ;  and  that  Mr.  Burke  do.  fee  that  it  be  truly  cano- 
nical, and  faithfully  inferted.'* — finis. 

If  the  clerk  of  the  court  of  king's  bench  ilioiild  choofe  to  be  the 
author  of  this  luminous  encomium  on  the  conftitution,  I  hope  he  will 
get  it  well  by  heart  before  he  attempts  to  deliver  it,  and  not  have 
to  apologize  to  parliament,  as  he  did  in  the  cafe  of  Bolingbroke's  en- 
comium, for  forgetting  his  lefion  ;  and,  with  this  admonition,  I  leave, 
him. 
*'  '.^Having  thus  informed  the  addrefTers  of  what  palTcd  at  the  meeting 
of  parliament,  I  return  to  take  up  the  fubje<5t  at  the  part  where  1 
brolfe  off,  in  order  to  introduce  the  preceding  fpeeches. 

I  was  then  Hating,  that  the  firfl  policy  of  the  government  party 
was  fxlence,  and  the  next,  clamorous  contempt ;  but  as  people  gene- 
rally jchoofe  to  i*ead  and  judge  for  themfelves,  the  work  Hill  went  on, 
and  the  affeftation  of  conteiTipt,  like  the  filence  that  preceded  it, 
puffed  for  nothing,  • 

Thus  foiled  in  their  fecpnd  fcheo)e,.  their  evil  genius,  like  a  v.-ill- 
with-a-wifp,  led  them  to  a  third  ;  when  all  at  once,  as  if  it  had  been 
unfolded  to  them  by  a  fortune-teller,  Jvlr^  Pundas  had  difcovcred  it 
by  fecond.  fight,  this  <?nce  liarmjefs,  ,infignincant  book,  without  un- 
dergoing the  alteration  of  a  fingle  letter,  became  a  mod  wicked  and 
dan p-erous  libel.  The  whole  cabinet,  like  a  .  fliip's  crew,  became 
alarmed;  all  hands  were  piped  upon  deck,  as  If  a  confpiracy  of  clc- 
^ments  was  forming  arourkd  them,  and  out  came  the  proclamation  and 
the  profecution  ;  ^pd'addreiTes.fupplied  the  place  of  prayers. 
^  Ye  filly  fwalns,  tUought  I  to,  myfclf,  why  do  you  torment  ymir- 
f\.ly€^  thus  ?'.,The.,RlGHT.s  of  IvIan  is  a._book.pahr!ly  and  rationally 
written  ;  why  then  are  you  fo,  difturbed  ?  Did  you  fee  how  little  ov 
how  fufpicious  fuch  condutl  makes  you.  appear,  even  cunning  alone, 
had  yO;U  no  ^other  faculty,  would  hudiyou  into  prudence.  .The  plars, 
priiiciples,  ajid  argiiment,S,  contained  in  that  work,  arc  placed  befi  re 
the  eyes  of  the  nation,  and  of  the  world,  in  a  fair,  open,  and  manly 


268  P  A  rN-£^»s^'Wd  R  KS. 

manner,  and  nothing  more  is  neceffary  tli*n  to  refute  them.  Do  th:Vy 
and  the  whole  is  done  ;  but  i^je  cannot,  fo  neither  can  ye  fupprefs  the 
readin-^,  nor  convict  the  nuthor;  for  tlie  law,  in  the  opinion  of  all 
good  men,  v%'oald  convict  itfelf,  that  fhouid  condemn  what  cannot  be 
refuted. 

Having  now  fhewn  the  addreffers  the  feveral  flages  of  the  bufinefs, 
pnor  to  their  being  called  upon,  like  Csefar  in  the  Tyber,  crying  to 
CalTius,  "  /jelp,  Cajius,  or  I/mk!'*  I  next  come  to  remark  on  the 
policy  of  the  government,  in  promotirrg  addrelTes  ;  on  the  confequen- 
ces  naturally  refulting  thercfrcrtn  ;'  and  on  the  conduft  of  the  perfons 
concerned. 

With  refpeft  to  the  policy,  it  eviden-tly  carries  with  it  every  m.ark 
snd  feature  of  difguiicd  fear.  And  it  will  hereafter  be  placed  in  the 
hiflory  ofextraordinar)^  things,  that  a  pamphlet  fnouM  be  produced 
by  an  individual,  unconneded  v.-ith  any  feft  or  party,  and  not  feeking 
to  make  any,  and  almoft  a  ftranger  m  the  land,  that  fliould  completely 
frighten  a  Avhole  government,  and  that  in  the  m.idft  of  its  moil  tri- 
umphant fecurity.  Such  a  circumftance  cannot  fail  to  prove,  that 
either  the  pamphlet  has  irreilftible  powers,  or  the  government  very 
extraordinary  defefts,  or  both.  Tlie  nation  exhibits  nofigns  of-fear 
at,tiie  Riglits  of  Man;  why  then  fhouid  the  government,  unlefs  the 
intereft  Ox  the  two  are  really  oppofite  to  each  other,  and  the  fecret  Is 
bep-innincr  to  be  known  ?  That  there  are  two  diilinft  claiTes  of  men  in 
the  nation,  thofe  who  pay  taxes,  and  thofe  who  receive  and  live  upon 
the  taxes,  is  evident  at  firll  fight ;  and  v/ben  taxation  is  carried  to 
excefs,  it  cannot  fail  to  difunite  thofe  two,  and  fomething  of  this  kin(i 
is  now  bejrinning  to  appear. 

It  is  alfo  curious  to  obfervc,  amidft  all  the  fume  and  buftle  about 
proclamations  and  addreffes,  kept  up  by  a  few  noify  and  interefled 
men,  hov/  little  the  mafs  of  the  nation  feem  to  care  about  either. 
They  appear  to  me,  by  the  indrfference  they  fhcvi^,  not  to  believe  a 
tvord  the  proclamation  contains  ;.  ancl  as  to  the  addrcffes,  they  travel 
to  London  with  the  filence  of  a'fuheratl,  and  having  announced  their 
arrivalin'the  Gazette,  are  dcpofitcd  "with  the  afrtes  of  their  ^redecef- 
fors,  and  Mr.  Dundas  writes  their  hicjacm:'    ■    -'■-''■■  --'■ 

One  of  the  bell  cfTeas  which  the  proclamation  jaiid  its  ecW  the  ad- 
drefTes  have  had,  has  been  that  of  exciting  and -fj^r^aiiin^  curiofity  ; 
and  it  requires  only  a  fingle  refleaiori  t6'dlfct)v^r,  tfiat'the  objeaof 
aU  curiofity  is  knowledge;  'When  the  m^fs'of  tbe  nation  faw  that 
placemen,  penfioners",  and  borough-mongers,  were  the  perfons  that 
flood  forward  to  promote  addrefFes,  it  could  not  fail  -to  create  ''fufpi- 


ADDRESS  TO  THE  ADDRESSERS.  2% 

eions  that  the  public  good  was  not  their  objeA;  that  the  character  of 
the  books,  or  writings,  to  which  fuch  perfons  obfcurely  alluded,  not 
daring  to  mention  them,  was  directly  contrary  to  what  they  defcribed 
them  to  be,  and  that  it  was  necefTary  that  every  man,  for  his  own 
fatisfaftion,  fliould  exercife  his  proper  right,  and  read  and  judge  for 
himfelf. 

But  how  will  tlie  perfons  who  have  been  induced  to  read  the  PJghls 
cf  Man,  by  the  clamour  /that  has  been  raifed  againft  it,  be  furprized 
to  find,  that,  inftead  of  a  wicked,  inflammatory  work>  inflead  of  a 
licentious  and  profligate  perform.ance,  it  abounds  with  principles  of 
government  that  are  uncontrovertible — v.'ith  arguments  v/hich  every 
reader  will  feel,  are  unanfwcrable-^with  plans  for  the  iiicreafe  of  com- 
merce and  manufadlures — for  the  extindion  of  war — for  the  educa- 
tion of  the  cli'Mren  of  the  poor — for  the  comfortable  fupport  of  tlie 
aged  and  decayed  perfons  of  boih  fexes — for  the  relief  of  the  army 
and  navy,  and,  in  Ihort,  for  the  promotion  of  every  thing  that  can 
benefit  the  moral,  civil  and  political  condition  of  man. 
JiifiWhy,  then,  fome  calm  obferver  will  aflc,  why  is  the  v/ork  profe- 
cuted,  if  thefe  be  the  goodly  matters  it  contains  ?  I  will  tell  tl'.ee, 
friend  ;  it  contains  alfo  a  plan  for  the  reduction  of  taxes,  for  lefien- 
■ing  the  immenfe  expences  of  government,  for  abolifhing  places  and 
penfions  j  and  it  propofes  applying  the  redundant  taxes,  that  fliall  be 
faved  by  thefe  reforms,  to  the  purpofes  mentioned  in  the  former  pa- 
ragraph, inftead  of  applying  them  to  the  fupport  of  idle  and  prdfli- 
gate  placemen  and  penfioners. 

Is  it,    then,   any  wonder   that  placemen  and  penfioners,  and  the 

whole  train  of  court  expedants,  fhould  become  the  promoters  of  ad- 

drefTes,   proclamations,  and  profecutions  ?  or,   is  it  any  \^'phd.er^tnlit 

corporations  and  rotten  boroughs,  which  j\re  attacked  alia  expdfed, 

both  in  the  Firft  and  Second  Parts  of  the  Rights  of  Man  as  unjiifl  mb- 

nopolies  and  public  nuifances,  fhould  join  in  the  cavalcade  ?  Yet  thefe 

are  the  fources  from  which  addreffes  have  fprung.       I  lad   not  fuch 

perfons  came  forward  to   oppofe  the  Rights  of  Man,    I  fhpuld  ji'ave 

doubted  the  efficacy  of  my  own  writings  :   But  tliofc  oppofer^^i'^vc 

now  proved  to  me,  that  the  blow  was  well  directed^  a^d  ^heyhave 

done  itjuftice,  by  confefling  the  fraart.  .,,  \-.^ 

The  principal  deception  in  this  bufinefs  of  addrefi^s  has  been,'' that 

the  promoters  of  them  have  not  come  forward  in  their  proper  cji^rac- 

ters.      They  have  aflumed  to  pafs  themfelves  upon  the  pupiic,  as  "a 

part  of  the  public  bearing  a  (hare  of  the  burden  of  taxes,  and  ading 

for  the  pubhc  good ;  whereas,  they  arc  in  general  that  part  of  itth^ 

'iiv/ict  bo  .'^ 


ifo  P  A  I  N  E  *  s    W  O  R  K  S. 

adds  to  the  public  burden,  by  living  on  the  prodiK:e  of  tht  publia 
taxes.  They  are  to  the  public  what  the  locufts  are  to  the  tree  :  The 
burden  would  be  lefs,  and  the  profperity  would  be  greater,  if  they 
were  /haken  off. 

"  I  do  not  come  here,"  faid  Onslow,  at  the  Surry  county  mect- 
ing-  "  as  lord  lieutenant  arid  cuftos  rotulorum  of  the  county,  but  I 
**  come  here  as  a  plain  countiy  gentleman.'*  The  fa<5l  is,  that  he 
came  there  as  what  he  was,  and  as  no  other^  and  confequently  he  came, 
as  one  of  the  beings  I  have  been  defcribing.  If  it  be  the  character  of 
a  "gentleman  to  be  fed  by  the  public,  as  a  pauper  is  by  the  parifh. 
Onflow  has  a  fair  claim  to  the  title  ;  and  tlie  fame  defcription  will  fuit 
the  duke  of  Richmond,  who  led  the  addrefs  at  the  SufTex  meeting. — 
Healfo  may  fet  up  for  a  gentleman. 

As  to  the  meeting  in  the  next  adjoining  county  (F/nt)  it  was- a. 
fcene  of  difgrace.  About  two  hundred  perfons  met,  when  a  fmall 
part  of  them  drew  privately  away  from  the  reft,  and  voted  an  ad- 
drefs :  The  confequence  of  which  was,  that  they  got  together  by  the. 
ears,  and  produced  a  riot  in  the  very  a6l  of  producing  an  addrefs  to 

prevent  riots.  ^      ,  ^  ,       *. 

■  ■  ■  .  '•  ""^T^  ^    "VA'^ti£L 

^  That  tbe  proclamation  and  the  addrefTes  have  failed  of  thcir^  in- 
tended effeft,  may  be  colle6led  from  tbe  filence  which  tbe  govern- 
ment party  itfelf  obferves.  The  number  of  addrefles  Has  been  weekly 
retailed  in  the  Gazette  ;  but  the  number  of  addrefTers  has  been  con- 
cealed. Several  of  the  addrefTes  have  been  voted  by  not  more  than.- 
ten  or  twelve  perfons  ;  and  a  confiderable  number  of  them 'by  riot 
more  than  thirty.  The  whole  number  of  addrefTes  prefented  at  the 
time  of  writing  this  letter  Is  three  hundred  and  twenty  (rotten  bo* 
rouo-hs  and  corporations  included)  and  even  admitting,  on  an  average, 
one  hundred  addrefTers  to  each  addrefs,  the  whole  number  of  addrefTers 
would  be  but  thirty-two  thoufand,  and  nearly  three  months  have 
been  taken  up  in  procuring  this  number.  That  the  fuccefs  of  tlie 
proclamation  has  been  lefs  than  the.  fuccefs  of  the  Work  it  wa.i  in- 
tended to  difcourage,  is  a  matter  within  my  own  knowledge;  for  a 
greater  number  of  tiie  cheap  edition  of  the  hrll  and  fccond  parts  of 
Rights  of  Man  has  been  fold  in  the  fpace  only   of  one  raoutli,,^  tli^n 

the' whole  number  of  addrefTers   (admittinfj  ^tnerft'to  be,  thirtv-ti^^^^ 
-      _      •.•  .  .  .       ,  ■ .  ^  .     .    'A  'i^n-Ufj  ^ci^sm  j/;qm"ij 

thoufand)  have  amounted  to  m  three  months.  ..  ...       .   -  . 

_    .  .  ',.r.;  .,:.,■.;:■..   £  bi  ofTOiiiiSuiSv-nrtmcTqut 

It  IS   a  dangerous  attempt  m  any  government  to  lay  to  a  nation, 

"  (houjhalt  not  read.^*    This  is  rio\\':  done  in  Spain,  and  was  formerlyV 

dbrie  under  the  old  government  oT  France^;  but  it  ferved  to  procure* 

the  downfalof  the  latter,  ari:H  is  fubvertihg  that  of  the  former  j  and- 


ADDRlElSS  TO  THE  ADDRESSERS.  271 

it  will  have  the  fame  tendency  in  all  countries  ;  becaufe  thought  by 
fome  means  or  other,  is  got  abroad  Into  the  world,  and  cannot  be 
reflrained,  though  reading  may. 

If  Rights  of  JMan  v.-ere  a  book  that  deferved  the  vile  defcription 
which  the  promoters  of  the  addrefs  have  given  of  it,  why  did  not  thefe 
men  prove  their  charge,  and  fatisfy  the  people,  by  producing  It,  and 
reading  it  publicly  ?  This  moil  certainly  ought  to  have  been  done, 
and  would  alfo  have  been  done,  had  they  believed  it  would  have 
anfwered  their  purpofe.  But  the  faft  is,  that  the  book  contains 
truths,  which  thofe  time-fervers  dreaded  to  hear,  and  dreaded  that  the 
people  fhould  know  ;  and  it  is  now  following  up  the  addrelTeSin  every 
part  of  the  nation,  and  convicting  them  of  falfehoods. 

Among  the  unwarrantable  proceedings  to  which  the  proclamation 
has  given  rife,  the  meetings  of  the  juftlces  In  feveral  of  the  towns  and 
.counties  ougfit  to  be  noticed.  Thofe  men  have  affumed  to  re-ad 
the  farce  of  general  warrants,  and  to  fupprefs,  by  their  own  authority, 
whatever  publications  they  pleafe.  This  Is  an  attempt  at  power, 
equalled  only  by  the  conduft  of  the  minor  defpots  of  the  mod  def- 
potlc  governments  In  Europe,  and  yet  thofe  juftlces  aiTedl  to  call 
England  a  free  country.  But  eventhls,  perhaps,  like  the  fchcme  for 
garrifoning  the  country,  by  building  mihtary  barracks,  is  neceffary  to 
awaken  the  country  to  a  fenfe  of  Its  rights,  and,  as  fuch,  It  will  have- 
a  good  effed,  _^  ..„^  ^  ,^,,, ,^,, 

Another  part  of  the  condu6l  of  fuch  juftlces  has  been,  that  of 
threateuino-  to  take  away  the  licences  from  taverns  and  public-houfes, 
where  the  inhabitants  of  the  neighbourhood  affoclated  to  read  -and 
difcufs  the  principles  of  government,  and  to  Inform  each  other  there- 
on." This,  again.  Is  fimilar  to  what  Is  doing  in  Spain  and  Rufiia ; 
anS  the  reSeaion  which  It  cannot  fail  to  fuggeft  Is,  that  the  prlnci^^ 
pies  and  conduft  of  any  government  muft  be  bad,  when  that  govern- 
Hient  dreads  and  ftartles  at  difcuffion,  and  feeks  fecurity  by  a  preven-. 
tion  of  knowledge.  ^      ^  o;i':/r>.fuSo7q 

If.  the  government,  or  the  conftltutlon,  or  by  whatever  name  it  be, 
called,  be  that  miracle  of  perfection  which  the  proclamation  and  the_ 
addreffes  have  trumpeted  it  forth  to  be,  it  ought  to  have  defied  dijr7j' 
cuffion  and  Inveftigation,  inftead  of  dreading  It.     Whereas  etvery.  a^tT. 
tempt  It  makes,  either  by  proclamation,  prefecutlon,  or  addrefSj,^,t^^ 
fupprefs  Inveftigation,  Is  a  confeflion  that  It  feels  itfelf  unable  to  bear 
It.     It  Is  error  only,  and  not  truth,  that  fhriaks  from  enquiry.      All 
the  numerous  pamphlets,  and  all  the  newfpaper  falfchood  and  abufe, 
that  have  been    publifhed  agalnft    "  Rights  of  Man,"    have   fallea 


I'ji  P  A  I  NE's     W  O  R  KS. 

before  it  like  pointlefs  arrows  ;  and,  in  like  manner,  would  any  work 
have  fallen  before  the  confliitution,  had  the  conftitution,  as  it  is  called, 
been  founded  on  as  good  political  principles  as  thofe  on  which  the 
Rights  of  Man  is  written. 

It  is  a  good  conftitution  for  courtiers,  placemen,  penfioners,  bo- 
rough holders,  and  the  leaders  of  parties,  and  thefe  are  the  men  that 
have  been  the  aftive  leaders  of  addreffes  ;  but  it  is  a  bad  conftitution 
for  at  leaft  ninety-nine  parts  of  the  nation  out  of  an  hundred,  and 
this  truth  is  every  day  making  its  way. 

It  is  bad,  firft,  becaufe  it  entails  upon  the  nation  the  uftnecefTary 
cxpence  fif  fupporting  three  forms  and  fyftems  of  government  at  once, 
namelv  the  monarchical,  the  ariftocratical,  and  the  democratical. 

Secondly,  becaufe  it  is  impofiible  to  unite  fuch  a  difcordant  com- 
pofition  by  anv  other  means  than  perpetual  corruption  ;  and  therefore 
the  corruption  fo  loudly  and  fo  univerfally  complained  of,  is  no  other 
than  the  natural  confcquence  of  fuch  an  unnatural  compound  of 
governments  ;  and  in  this  confifts  that  excellence  which  the  numerous 
herd  of  placemen  and  penfioners  fo  loudly  extol  and  which,  at  the 
fame  time,  occafions  that  enormous  load  of  taxes  under  which  the 
reft  of  the  nation  groans. 

Amonsr  the  mais  of  national  delufions  calculated  to  amufe  and  im- 
pofe  upon  the  multitude,  the  ftanding  one  h:*s  been,  that  of  flattering 
them  into  taxes,  by  calling  the  governmient  (or  as  they  pleafe  to  ex- 
prefs  it,  the  Englifli  conftitution)  "  the  envy  and  admiration  of  the 
"  ^cuoru'L'*  Scarcely  an  addrefs  has  been  voted  in  which  fome  of  the 
fpeakers  have  not  uttered  this  hackneyed  nonfenfical  falfehood. 

Two  revolutions  have  taken  place,  thofe  of  America  and  France, 
and  both  of  them  have  rejefted  the  unnatural  compounded  fyftem  of 
the  Englifli  government;  America  has  declared  againft  all  hereditary 
government,  and  cftabliflied  the  reprefentative  fyftem  of  government 
(^;nly.  France  has  entirely  rejefted  the  ariftocratical  part,  and  is  now 
difcovering  the  abfurdity  of  the  monarchical,  and  is  approaching  faft 
to  the  reprefentative  fyftem.  On  what  ground  then,  do  thefe  men 
eontinue  a  declaration,  refpeding  what  tliey  call  the  envy  and  admi- 
ration of  other  nations y  which  the  voluntary  pradice  of  fuch  nations, 
as  have  had  the  opportunity  of  eftablifliing  government,  contradicts 
and  falfifics.  Will  fuch  men  never  confine  themfelves  to  truth  ?  Will 
they  be  for  ever  the  deceivers  of  the  people  ? 

But  I  v/ill  go  farther,  and  fiiiJvv,  that  were  government  now  to  be;- 
gin  in  England,  the  people  could  not  be  brought  tQ  eftablifti  the  fame 
fyftem  they  now  fubmit  to. 


ADDRESS  TO  THE  ADDRESSERS.  273 

In  fpeaking  upon  this  fubjeft  (or  on  any  other)  on  the  purs  ground 
of  principle,  antiquity  and  precedent  ceafe  to  be  authority,  and  hoary- 
headed  error  lofes  its  efFed.  The  reafonablenefs  and  propriety  of 
things  muft  be  examined  abftrafledly  from  cuflom  and  ufage  ;  and  in 
this  point  of  view,  the  right  which  grows  into  praftice  to-day  is  as 
much  a  right,  and  as  old  in  principle  and  theory,  as  if  it  had  the  cuf- 
tomary  fan6lion  of  a  thoufand  ages.  Principles  have  no  connexion 
with  time,  nor  charadlers  with  names. 

To  fay  that  the  government  of  this  country  is  eompofed  of  "king, 
lords,  and  commons,  is  the  mere  phrafeology  of  cuftom.  It  is  eom- 
pofed of  rrien  ;  and  whoever  the  men  be  to  whom  the  government  of 
any  country  is  intruiled,  they  ought  to  be  the  beft  and  vi'ifeft  that  can 
be  found,  and  if  they  are  not  fo,  they  are  not  fit  for  the  flation.  A 
man  derives  no  more  excellence  from  the  change  of  a  name,  or  calling 
him  king,  or  calling  him  lord,  than  I  fhould  do  by  changing  my 
name  from  Thomas  to  George,  or  from  Paine  to  Guelph.  I  Ihould  not 
be  a  whit  the  more  able  to  write  a  book,  becfiufe  my  name  were 
altered  ;  neither  would  any  man,  now  called  a  king  or  a  lord,  have  a 
whit  the  more  fenfe  than  he  now  has,  were  he  to  call  himfelf  Thomas 
Paine. 

-  As  to  the  word  '*  commons,"  applied  as  it  is  in  England,  it  is  a 
term  of  degradation  and  reproach,  and  ought  to  be  abohflicd.  It  is 
a  term  unknown  in  free  countries. 

But  to  the  point.: — Let  us  fuppofe  that  government  was  now  to 
begin  in  England,  and  that  the  plan  of  government,  offered  to  the 
nation  for  its  approbation  or  rejeftion,  confilled  of  the  following  parts: 

Firft. — That  fome  one  individual  fhould  be  taken  from  all  the  reil 
•f  the  nation,  and  to  whom  all  the  reft  Ihould  fwear  obedience,  and 
never  be  permitted  to  fit  down  in  his  prefence,  and  that  they  fhould 
give  him  one  million  fterling  a  year. — That  the  nation  fhould  never 
after  have  power  or  authority  to  make  laws  but  vv'ith  his  exprefs  con- 
fent,  and  that  his  fons  arid  his  fdns'  fons,  whether  wife  or  foolifh,  good 
men  or  bad,  fit  or  unfit,  fhould  have  the  fame  power,  and  alfo  tlie  fame 
money  annually  paid  to  them  for  ever. 

Secondly. — That  there  fhould  be  two  houfes  of  legiflators  to  affift 
in  making  laws,  one  of  which  fhould,  in  the  firft  inftance,  be  entirely 
appointed  by  the  aforefaid  perfon,  and  that  their  fons  and  their  fons' 
fons,  whether  wife  or  foolifli,  good  men  or  bad,  fit  or  unfit,  fhould  for 
CYer  after  be  hereditary  legiflators. 

•r -Thirdly. — That  the  other  houfc  fliouldbe  chofen  in  the  fame  man- 
ner as  the  houfe  now  called  the  houfe  of  commons  Is  chofen,  and 
V©L.  II.  N  n 


274  P  A  I  N  E  '  s     W  O  R  K  S. 

ihould  be  fubjeft  to  the  control  of  the  two  aforefald  hereditary  powers 
in  all  thin 0-5. 

It  would  be  impoiTible  to  cram  fucli  a  farrago  of  impofition  and 
abfurdlty  down  the  throat  of  this  or  any  other  nation,  that  were  ca- 
pable of  reafcning  upon  its  riglits  and  its  intereil:. 

They  would  all-:,  in  the  nril  place,  on  what  ground  of  right,  or  on 
tvhat  principle,  fuch  irrational  a;id  prepoilerous  diftinctions  could,  or 
ought  to  be  made  ;  and  what  pretenfions  any  man  could  have,  or  what 
fcrvices  he  could  render,  to  entitle  him  to  a  million  a  year  ?  They 
would  go  farther,  and  revolt  at  the  idea  of  configning  their  children 
and  their  children's  children,  to  the  domination  of  perfons  hereafter  to 
be  born,  who  might,  for  any  thing  they  could  forefee,  turn  out  to 
be  knaves  or  fools  ;  and  they  v/ould  finally  difcover,  that  the  project 
of  hereditary  governors  and  legiflators  icas  a  trcajonahle  ufurpation 
over  the  rights  of  pojhrlty.  Not  only  the  calm  diciates  of  reafon,  and 
the  force  of  natural  afteclion,  but  the  integrity  of  manly  pride,  would 
impel  men  to  fpurn  fuch  propofals. 

From  the  groffer  abfurdities  of  fuch  a  fcheme,  they  would  extend 
their  examination  to  the  pradb'cal  defefts — They  would  foon  fee 
that  it  would  end  in  tyranny,  accomplifned  by  fraud.  That  in  the 
operation  of  it,  it  would  be  two  to  one  againft  them,  becaufe  the  two 
parts  that  were  to  be  made  hereditary,  would  form  a  common  intereft, 
and  flick  to  each  other  ;  and  that  themfelvcs  and  reprefentatives  would 
become  no  better  than  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water  for  the 
other  parts  of  the  government. — Yet  call  one  of  thofe  powers  king, 
the  otiicr  lords,  and  the  third,  the  commons,  and  it  gives  the  model  of 
what  is  called  the  Englifli  government. 

1  hrive  aiTerted,  and  hnve  fnewn,  both  in  the  firft  and  fecond  parts 
o{ Rights  of  Maiiy  that  there  is  not  fuch  a  thino-  as  an  Enrdilh  conlli- 
tution,  and  that  the  pevople  have  yet  a  conftitution  to  form.      A  con- 
jVitutwn  is  a  thing  anfi cedent  to  a  government  ;    it  is  the  aEl  of  the  people 
creating  a  government  and  giving  it  poivcrs^   and  dcfning  the   limits  and 
exercife  of  the  pozucrs  fo  given.      But   whenever   did  the   people   of 
England,  afting  in  th.eir  original  conilituent  charaCiCic,  by  a  delega- 
tion elefted  for  that  exprefs  piirpofe,  declare  and  fay,  "'  P/e  the  people 
**  of  this  land,  do  conjtiiute  and  appoint  this  to  be  our  fyfiem  and  form  of 
"government?^'-    The  government  has  aflumed  to  conRitute  itfelf,  but 
it  never  was  conftituted  by   the  people,  in  whom  alone  the  right  of 
conllituting  reudes. 

I  will  here   recite  the  preamble   to  the  federal  conftitution  of  the 
United  States  of  America.   I  have  fhewp  in  the  fecond  part  of  Rights 


ADDRESS  TO  THE  ADDRESSERS.  275 

of  Math  tlie-m?inner  by  which  the  conftitutlon  was  formed  and  after- 
wards ratiiied  ;  and  to  wiiich  I  refer  the  reader. — The  preamble  is  in 
the  following  words  : 

''  WE,  THE  PEOPLE,  of  the  United  States,  in  order  to  form 
*'  a  more  perfe6l  union,  ellablifh  juftice,  infurc  domeftic  tran- 
**  quility,  provide  for  common   defence,   promote  the  general 
**  welfare,  and  fecure  the  blellings  of  liberty  to  ourielves  and  our 
"  pofterity,     do     ordain    and  establish   this  constitu- 
**  TiON  for  the  United  States  of  America." 
Then  follow  the   feveral  articles  which   appoint  the  manner    in 
which  the  feveral  component  parts  of  the  government,  legiflative  and 
executive,  (hall  be  eledled,  and  the  period  of  their  duration,    and  the 
powers  they  fliall  have  :    Alfo,  the  manner  by  which  future  additions, 
alterations,    or  amendments,  fiiall  be  made  to  tlie  conditution.    Con- 
fequently,    every  improvement   that   can   be    made  in  the  fcience  of 
government,  follows  in  that  country  as  a  matter  of  order.      It  is  only 
in  governments  founded  on  afFumption  and  falfe  principles,  that  rea- 
foning  upon,  and  inveftigating  fyftems  and  principles  of  government, 
and  iliewing   their  feveral  excellencies  and  defe^ls,   are  termed  libel- 
lous and   feditious.     Thefe   terms  were   made   part   of  the  charge 
brouglit  againft  Locke,   Hampden,    and   Sydney,    and  will  continue 
to  be  brought  againft  all  good  men,  fo  long  as  bad  governments  fliall 
continue. 

The  government  of  this  country  has  been  oftentatloufly  giving 
challenges  for  more  than  an  hundred  years  pad,  upon  what  it  called 
its  own  excellence  and  perfeftion.  Scarcely  a  king's  fpeecli,  or  a 
parliamentary  fpeech,  lias  been  uttered,  in  which  this  glove  has  not 
been  thrown,  till  the  wDrld  has  been  infulred  with  their  challcnires. 
But  it  now  appears  that  all  this  was  vapour  and  vain-boafting,  or  that 
it  was  intended  to  conceal  abufes  and  defefts,  and  hufli  the  people  into 
taxes.  I  have  taken  the  challenge  up,  and  in  behalf  of  the  public 
have  fhcwn,  in  a  fair,  open,  and  candid  manner,  both  the  radical  and 
pradfcal  defers  of  the  fyitenr  ;  when,  lo  !  thofe  champions  of  the 
civil  lift  have  fled  away,  and  fent  the  attorney-general  to  deny  the 
challenge,  by  turning  the  acceptance  of  it  into  an  attack,  and  de- 
fending their  places  and  penfions  by  a  profecution. 

I  will  liere  drop  this  part  of  the  fubjeci:,  and  ftate  a  few  particu- 
lars refpeCting  the  profecution  now  pending,  by  which  the  addreffers 
will  fee  that  they  have  been  ufed  as  tools  to  the  profecuting  party  and 
their  dependants.     The  cafe  is  as  follows  : 

The  original  edition  of  the  firft   and  fecond  parts  of  Rights  0? 


27^  P  A  I  NE's    W  O  R  K  S. 

Man,  having  been  expenfively  printed  (in  the  modern  ftyle  of  print- 
ing pamphlets,  that  they  might  be  bound  up  with  Mr.  Burke's  re- 
fiedtions  on  the  French  revolution),  the  high  price  precluded  the 
generality  of  people  from  purchafing  ;  and  many  applications  were 
made  to  me  from  various  parts  of  the  country  to  print  the  work  in  a 
cheaper  manner.  The  people  of  Sheffield  requefted  leave  to  print 
two  thouland  copies  for  thcmfelves,  with  which  requeft  I  immedi- 
ately complied.  The  fam^e  ii^queil  came  to  me  from  Rotherham, 
from  Leicelter,  from  ChcRer,  from  feveral  towns  in  Scotland  ;  and 
Mr.  James  Mackintofh,  author  of  Vind'icice  GaHicia,  brought  me  a 
requeil  from  Warwickfiiire,  for  leave  to  print  ten  taoufand  copies 
in  that  county.  I  had  already  fcnt  a  cheap  edition  lo  Scotland  ; 
and  finding  the  applications  increafe,  I  concluded  that  the  beft  me- 
thod of  complying  therewith,  would  be  to  print  a  very  numerous  edi- 
tion in  London,  under  my  own  direction,  by  which  means  the  work 
would  be  more  perfeit,  and  the  price  be  reduced  lower  than  it  could 
be  h  J  print  hi  n^  fmall  editions  in  the  country  of  only  a  few  thoufands 
each. 

The  cheap  edition  of  the  firft  part  was  begun  about  the  middle 
of  lafl:  April,  and  from  that  moment,  and  not  before,  I  expected  a 
profecution,  and  the  event  has  proved  that  I  was  not  miftaken.  I  had 
then  occafion  to  write  to  Mr.  Thomas  Walker  of  Manchefter,  and 
after  informing  him  of  my  intention  of  giving  up  the  work  for  the 
purpofe  of  general  information,  I  informed  him  of  what  I  appre- 
hended would  be  the  gonfequence  ;  that  while  the  work  was  at  a  price 
that  precluded  an  extenfive  circulation,  the  government  party,  not 
able  to  controvert  the  plans,  arguments,  and  principles  it  contained, 
had  chofen  to  remain  filent  ;  but  that  I  expefted  they  would  make 
an  attempt  to  deprive  the  mafs  of  the  nation,  and  efpecially  the  poor, 
of  the  right  of  reading,  by  the  pretence  of  profecuting  either  the 
author  or  the  pubiiiher,  or  both.  They  chofe  to  begin  with  the 
pulplifher. 

Nearly  a  month,  however,  pafTed,  before  I  had  any  information 
given  mc  of  their  intentions.  I  was  then  at  Bromley,  in  Kent,  upon 
which  I  came  immediately  to  town  (May  14.)  ;  and  went  to  .Mr. 
Jordan,  the  publifher  of  the  original  edition.  Pie  had  that -cv.cnii)g 
been  fervcd  with  a  fummons,  to  appear  at  the  court  of  king's  bench  on 
the  Monday  following,  but  for  what  purpofe  was  not  Hated.  •' Saip- 
pofiug  it  to  be  on  account  of  the  work,  •!  appointed,  a  meeting  wit 
him  on  the  next  morning,  which  was  accordingly  had,  when  I  pro- 
vided an  attorney,   and  took  the  cxpence  of  the  defence  pa  myfelf. 


ADDRESS  TO  THE  ADDRESSERS.  277 

But  finding  afterwards  that  he  abfented  himfelf  from  the  attorney 
employed,  and  had  engaged  anotlier,  and  that  lie  had  been  clofetcd 
«vith  the  folicitors  of  the  treafury,  I  left  him  to  follow  his  own  choice, 
and  he  chofe  to  plead  guilty.  This  he  might  do  if  he  plea  fed  ;  and 
I  make  no  objedion  againit  him  for  it,  I  believe  that  his  idea  by 
the  word  guilty,  was  no  other  than  declaring  himfelf  to  be  the  pub- 
lifher,  without  any  regard  to  the  merits  or  demerits  of  the  work  ;  for 
were  it  to  be  conftrued  otherwife,  it  would  amount  to  the  abfurdity 
of  converting  a  publiflier  into  a  jury,  and  his  confeffion  into  a  verdict 
upon  the  work  itfelf.  This  would  be  the  high^ift  pofuble  refinement 
upon  packing  of  juries. 

On  the  2 1  ft  of  May,  they  commenced  their  profecution  againft 
me,  as  the  author,  by  leaving  a.fummons  at  my  lodgings  in  town, 
to  appear  at  the  court  of  king's  bench  on  the  8th  of  June  following; 
and  on  the  fame  day  (May  21,)  they  ijjued  alfo  their  proclamation. 
Thus  the  court  of  St.  James's,  and  the  court  of  king's  bench,  were 
playing  into  each  other's  hands  at  the  fame  inftant  of  time,  and  the 
farce  of  addreffes  brought  up  the  rear  ;  and  this  mode  of  proceeding 
is  called  by  the  proftituted  name  of  law.  Such  a  thundering  rapidity, 
after  a  minifterial  dormancy  of  alm.oft  eighteen  months,  can  be  attri- 
buted to  no  other  caufe  than  their  having  gained  information  of  the 
forwardnefs'of  the  cheap  edition,  and  the  dread  they  felt  at  the  pro- 
greflive  increafe  of  political  knowledge. 

I  was  ftrongly  advifed  by  feveral  gentlemen,    as  well  thofe  in  the 
practice  of  the  law,  as  others,    to  prefer  a  bill  of  indi6lment  againft 
the  publifher  of  the   proclamation,   as  a  publication    tending  to  in- 
fluence, or  rather  to   dictate   the  verdidl  of  a  jury  on  the  iffue  of  a 
matter  then  pending  ;  but  it   appeared  to  me  much  better  to  avail 
myfelf  of  the  opportunity  which  fuch    a   precedent  juftified  me  in 
ufing,   by  meeting  the  proclamation   and  the  addreffes  on  their  own 
ground,   and  publicly  defending  the  work  which  had  been  tlius  un- 
warrantably attacked  and   traduced. — And  confcious  as   I"  novt  am, 
athat  the  work  entitled.  Rights  of  Man,  fo  far  from  being,  as  has  been 
Homalicioufiy  or  erroneoudy  reprefented,   a  falfe,  wicked,  and  feditious 
libel,  is  a  work  abounding  with  ufianfwerable  truths,  with  pfiiidijiles 
4*.of  the  pureft  morality  and  benevolence,  and  with  arguments  hdt'tb'bc 
incontroverted. — Confoioug,  I  fay,  of  thefc  things,  and  having  ho  objcdt 
o^in  view,  but  the  happinefs  of  mankind,  I  have  now  put  the  matter  to 
^the  bcft  proof  in  my  power,  by  giving  to  the  public  a  cheap  <;ditiou 
of  the  firft  and  fecond  parts  cif  that  v/ot^k;  '  1:'^  every  mari'rdad 
ai^  judge  for  himfelf,. not  only  of  thcrtiiirits'bV  Jemerits  of  theVork, 


278  P  A  I  NE's    W  O  R  K  S. 

but  of  the  matters  therein  contained,  which  relate  to  his  own  intercft 
and  happinefs. 

If,  to  expofe  the  fraud  and  impofition  of  monarchy,  and  every 
fpecies  of  hereditary  government — to  leffen  the  oppreffion  of  taxes — 
to  propofe  plans  for  the  education  of  helplefs  infancy,  and  the  com- 
fortable fupport  of  the  aged  and  diftrcfTed — to  endeavour  to  con- 
ciliate nations  to  each  other — to  extirpate  the  horrid  praftice  of 
v/ar — to  promote  univerfal  peace,  civilization,  and  commerce — 
and  to  break  the  chains  of  political  fuperftition,  and  raife  degraded 
man  to  his  proper  rank  ; — if  thefe  things  be  libellous,  let  me  live  the 
h'fe  of  a  libeller,  and  let  the  name  of  LIBELLER  be  engraved  on 
my  tomb. 

Of  all  the  weak  and  ill  judged  meafures  which  fear,  ignorance,  or 
arrogance  could  fugged,  the  proclamation,  and  the  proje6l  for  ad- 
drefles,  are  two  oi  the  woril.  They  ferved  to  advertife  the  work 
which  the  promoters  of  thofe  meafures  wifhed  to  keep  unknown  j 
and  in  doing  this,  they  offered  violence  to  the  judgment  of  the  people, 
by  calling  on  them  to  condemn  what  they  forbad  them  to  know  ; 
and  they  put  the  llrength  of  their  party  to  that  hazardous  iffue  that 
prudence  would  have  avoided.— The  coimty  meeting  for  Middlefex 
was  attended  by  only  oue  hundred  and  eighteen  addreffers.  They, 
no  doubt,  expecfled,  that  thoufands  would  flock  to  their  flandard,  and 
clamour  againil  the  Rights  of  Man.  But  the  cafe  mod  probably  is, 
that  men,  in  all  countries,  are  not  fo  bhnd  to  their  rights,  and  their 
intereft,  as  governments  believe. 

Having  thus  fliewn  the  extraordinary  manner  in  which  the  govern^ 
ment  party  commenced  their  attack,  I  proceed  to  offer  a  few  obfer- 
vations  on  the  profecution,  and  on  the  mode  of  trial  by  fpecial  jury. 

In  the  firll  place,  I  have  written  a  book  ;  and  if  it  cannot  be 
refuted,  it  cannot  be  condemned.  But  I  do  not  confider  the  pro- 
fecution as  particularly  levelled  againft  me,  but  againft  the  general 
right,  or  the  right  of  every  man,  of  inveftigating  fyftems  and  prin- 
ciples of  government,  and  fliewing  their  feveral  excellencies  or  defefts. 
If  the  prefs  be  free  only  to  flatter  government,  as  Mr.  Burke  has 
done,  and  to  cry  up  and  extol  what  certain  court  fycophants  are 
pleafed  to  call  a  "  glorious  confl:itution,"  and  not  free  to  examine  into 
its  errors  or  abufes,  or  whether  a  conllitution  really  exilt  or  not, 
fuch  freedom  is  no  other  than  that  of  Spain,  Turkey,  or  Ruflia  ; 
•ind  a  jury  in  this  cafe,  would  not  be  a  jury  to  try,  but  an  inquifition 
to  condemn.  ^ 

I  have  aJferted,  and  by  fair  and   open  argument   maintained,  the 


ADDRESS  TO  THE  ADDRESSERS.  279 

right  of  ever^r  nation  at  all  times,  to  eftablifli  fiich  a  fyftem  and  form 

of  government  for  itfelf  as  bed  accords  with  its  dlfpofition,  intereft  and 

happinefs  ;  and  to  change  or  alter  it  as  it   fees  occafion.     Will  any 

jury  deny   to  the  nation  this  right  ?  If  they  do,  they  are  traitors, 

and  their  verdi6l  would  be  null  and  void.     And   if  they  admit  the 

right,  the  means  muft  be  admitted  alfo  f  for  it  would  be  the  higheft 

abfurdity  to  fay,  that  the  right  exiiled,  but  the  means  did  not.      The 

queftion  then  is,   What   are  the  means  by  which  the    poffelTion  and 

exercife  of  this  national  nVht  are  to  be  fecured  !  The  anfwer  will  be, 

o 

tp.at  of  maintaining,  inviolably,  the  right  of  invelligation  ;  for  invefti- 
gation  always  fervcs  to  detedl  error,  and  to  bring  forth  truth. 

I  have,  as  an  individual,  given  my  opinion  upon  what  I  believe 
to  be  not  only  the  beft,  but  the  true  fyftem  of  government,  which 
is  the  reprefentative  fyftem,  and  I  have  given  reafons  for  that 
opinion. 

Firil.  Becaufe  in  the  reprefentative  fyftem,  no  office  of  very  ex- 
traordinary power,  or  extravagant  pay,  is  attached  to* any  individual  ; 
and  confequently  there  is  nothing  to  excite  thofe  national  conten- 
tions and  civil  wars,  with  which  countries  under  monarchical  govern- 
ments are  frequently  convulfed,  and  of  which  the  hiftory  of  England 
exhibits  fuch  numerous  inftances. 

Secondly.  Becaufe  the  reprefentative  is  a  fyftem  of  government 
always  in  maturity  ;  whereas  monarchical  government  fluftuates 
through  all  the  ftages,  from  non-age  to  dotage. 

Thirdly.  Becaufe  the  reprefentative  fyftem  admits  of  none  but 
men,  properly  qualified,  into  the  government,  or  removes  them  if 
they  prove  to  be  otherwife.  Whereas  in  the  hereditary  fyftem,  a 
nation  may  be  encumbered  with  a  knave  or  an  ideot  for  a  whole 
life-time,  and  not  be  benefited  by  a  fucceflbr. 

Fourthly.  Becaufe  there  does  not  exift  a  right  to  eftablifti  heredi- 
tary government ;  or,  in  other  words,  hereditary  fucceflbrs  ;  becaufe 
hereditary  government  always  means  a  government  yet  to  come,  and 
the  cafe  always  is,  that  thofe  Vv^ho  are  to  live  afterwards  have  the 
fame  right  to  cftablifh  government  for  themfelves,  as  the  people  had 
wlio  lived  before  them  ;  and,  therefore,  all  laws  attempting  to  efta- 
blifli  hereditary  government,  are  founded  on  afl'umption  and  political 
fiftion. 

If  thefe  pofitions  be  truths,  and  I  challenge  any  man  to  prove  the 
contrary  ;  if  they  tend  to  inftruft  and  enlighten  mankind,  and  to  free 
them  from  error,  oppreflion,  and  political  fuperftition,  which  arc  the 
cbjefts  Ihave  in  \^vv  in  publifhing  them,  that  jury  would  commit  au 


sSd  'J'  A  I  N  E '  s    W  0  R  ^  S. 

ad^  of  injiidice  to  their  country,  and  to  me,  if  not  an  a^k.  of  perjury, 
that  fho aid  call  themy^^,  nvkhedf  and  malk'ious^ 

Dragonetti,  in  his  treatife,  "  On  Virtues  and  Rewards,"  has  a  para- 
graph worthy  of  being  recorded  in  every  country  of  the  world — 
**  The  fcience  (fays  he)  of  the  politician,  confifts  in  fixing  the  true 
point  of  happinefs  and  freedom.  Thofe  men  would  deferve  the  gra- 
titude of  ages,  who  fhould  difcover  a  mode  of  government  that  con- 
tained the  grcateft  fum  of  individual  happinefs  with  the  leaft  national 
expence.^^  But  if  juries  are  to  be  made  ufe  of  to  prohibit  enquiry, 
to  fupprefs  truth,  and  to  flop  the  progrefs  of  knowledge,  this  boafted 
palladium  of  liberty  becomes  the  moH:  faccefsful  inflrument  of 
tyranny. 

Among  the  arts  praftifed  at  the  bar,  and  from  the  bench,  to  i'm- 
pofe  upon  the  underftanding  of  a  jury,  and  obtain  a  verdict  where 
the  confciences  of  men  could  not  otherwife  confent,  one  of  the  mofl 
fuccef!,ful  has  been  that  of  calling  truth  a  libel j  and  of  infinuating, 
that  tlie  words  "  falfely,  wickedly,  and  malicioufly,"  though  they 
are  made  the  formidable  and  high  founding  part  of  the  charge,  arc, 
not  matters  for  confide '.ati on  with  a  jury.  For  what  purpofe,  then, 
are  tliey  retained,  unlcfs  it  be  for  that  of  impofition  and  wilful 
defamation  ? 

I  cannot  conceive  a  greater  violation  of  order,  nor  a  more  abomi- 
nable infult  upon  morality,  and  upon  human  underftanding,  than  to 
fee  a  man  fitting  in  the  judgment  feat,  affeding  by  an  antiquated* 
foppery  of  drefs  to  imprefs  the  audience  with  awe  ;  then  caufing 
wilnefTes  and  jury  to  be  fworn  to  truth  and  juftice,  himfelf  having 
officially  fworn  the  fame  ;  then  caufing  to  be  read  a  profecution 
againll  a  man,  charging  him  with  having  tuickedly  and  maliciovjly 
luritten  and  puhlipjed  a  certain  falfe^  tvicked,  and  Jeditious  hook  ;  and 
having  gone  througli  ail  this  with  a  fnew  of  folemnity,  as  if  he  faw 
the  eye  of  the  Almighty  darting  through  the  roof  of  the  building 
like  a  ray  of  light,  turn  in  an  inftant,  the  whole  into  a  farce,  and 
in  order  to  obtain  a  verdidl  that  could  not  otherwife  be  obtained, 
tell  the  jury  that  the  churgeo?  falfely,  zvickedly,  and Jeditioitjly ^  meant 
nothing,  that  truth  was  out  of  the  quellion  ;  and  that  whether  th? 
perfon  accufcd  fpoke  trutii  or  falfeliood,  or  intended  virtuoiiJJy  or 
tuickedly,  was  the  fame  thing  ;  and  linaMy  conclude  the  wretched 
inquifitorial  fcene,  by  ftating  fome  antiquated  precedent,  equally 
as  abominable  as  that  which  is  then  acPiing,  or  giving  fome  opi- 
nion of  his  own,  and  falfcly  callin?  the  one  and  the  other — law.  It 
was,  moft  probably,  to  fuch  a  judge  as  this,   that  the  moft  folemii 


ADDRESS  TO  THE  ADDRESSERS.  281 

of  all  reproofs  was  given — The  lord  ivili  fmite  thee,    thou   'U}hitencd 
wall:' 

I  now  proceed  to  offer  fome  remarks  on  wliat  is  calltd  a  fpecial 
jury. — As  to  what  is  called  a  fpecial  verdift,  I  fliall  make  no  other 
remark  upon  it,  than  that  it  is  in  reality  r:oi  a  verdift.  It  is  an 
attempt  on  the  part  of  the  jury  to  delegate,  or  of  the  bench  to 
obtain,  the  exercife  of  that  right,  which  is  committed  to  the  jury 
onlv. 

With  refpe6l  to  fpecial  juries,  I  (liall  Hate  fuch  matters  ns  1  liave 
been  able  to  colleft,  for  I  do  not  find  any  uniform  opinion  concerning 
the  mode  of  appointing  them. 

In  the  firil  place,  the  m.ode  of  trial  i.sbut  of  modern  invention,  and 
the  origin  of  it,  as  I  am  told,  is  as  follows  : 

Formerly,  when  difputcs  arofe  between  m.erchants,  and  were 
brought  before  a  court,  the  cafe  was  that  the  nature  of  their  com- 
merce, and  the  method  of  keeping  mere'  ants  accounts,  not  being 
fuf&ciently  underilood  by  perfons  out  of  their  own  Hnc,  ft  became 
neceffary  to  depart  from  the  common  mode  of  appointing  juries,  v.-hofe 
practical  knowledge  would  enable  them  to  decide  upon  the  caic.  From 
this  introdufticn,  fpecial  juries  became  more  general ;  but  fome  doubts 
having  arifen  as  to  their  legality,  an  a6l  was  pafTed  in  the  3d  of  George 
11.  to  ellabliih  them  as  legal,  and  alfo  to  extend  them  to  all  cafes,  not 
only  between  individuals,  but  in  cafes  where  the govcrmvcnt  ilfcJf fooidd 
be  the  profecutor.  This  mofi  probably  gave  rife  to  the  fufpicion  fo 
generally  entertained  of  packing  a  jury;  becaufe  by  this  act,  when 
the  crown,  as  it  is  called,  is  the  profecutor,  tlie  mailer  of  the  crown- 
office,  who  holds  his  omce  under  the  crown,  is  the  perfon  who  either 
wholly  nominaies,  or  has  great  power  in  nominating  the  jury,  and 
therefore  it  has  greatly  the  appearance  of  the  profecuting  party  feleft- 
ing  a  jury. 

The  procefs  is  as  follows  : 

On  motion  being  made  in  court,  by  either  the  plaintiff  or  defendant, 
for  a  fpecial  jury,   the  court  grants  it  or  not,   at  its  own  difcretion. 

If  it  be  granted,  the  folicitor  of  the  party  that  applied  for  the  fpe- 
cial jury,  gives  notice  to  the  folicitor  of  the  adverfe  party,  and  a 
day  and  hour  are  appointed  for  them  to  meet  at  the  oflice  of  the  maf- 
ter  of  the  crown-office.  The  mailer  of  the  crown-office  fends  to  the 
ffieriff  or  his  deputy,  who  attends  with  the  flieriff 's  book  of  freehold- 
ers. Forty-eight  names  are  taJien,  and  a  copy  thereof  given  to  each 
of  the  parties  ;  and  on  a  future  day,  notice  is  again  given,  and  the 
folicitors  meet  a  fecond  time,  and  each  ftrikes  out  twelve  names.  The 
Vol.  11.  Oo 


282  PAINE's     WORKS. 

lift  being  thus  reduced  from  forty-eight  to  twenty-four,  the  firft  twelve 
that  appear  in  court,  and  anfwer*to  their  names,  is  the  fpecial  jury 
for  that  caufe.  The  firll  operation,  that  of  takiny^  the  forty-eight 
names,  is  called  nominating  the  jury;  and  the  reducing  them  to 
twenty-four  is  called  ftriking  the  jury. 

Having  thus  Hated  the  general  procefs,  I  come  to  particulars  ;  and 
the  firft  queftios  will  be,  how  arc  the  forty-eight  names,  out  of  which 
the  jury  is  to  be  ftruck,  obtained  from  the  fheriff's  book  ?  For  herein 
lies  the  principal  ground  of  fafpicion,  with  rcfpedl  to  what  is  under- 
llood  by  packing  of  juries. 

Either  they  mu'l  be  taken  by  fume  rule  agreed  upon  between  tlie 
parties,  or  by  ((jme  common  rule  known  and  eftabliilied  beforehand, 
or  at  the  difcietion  of  fome  perfon,  who,  in  fuch  a  cafe,  ought  to  be 
perfectly  difintereited  in  the  iffue,  as  well  officially  as  otherwife. 

In  the  cafe  of  merchants,  and  in  al!  cafes  between  iF:dividuals,  the 
mafter  of  the  office,  called  the  crown-ofnce,  is  officially  an  indifferent 
perfon,  and  as  fucli  niay  be  a  proper  perion  to  act  between  the  par- 
ties,  and  Drefent  thein  \vii.h  a  liil  of  forty-cijrht  names,   out  of  which 

7  X  J  CD 

each  party  is  to  {hike  twelve.  But  the  cafe  ailumes  an  entire  differ- 
ent character,  when  tlie  government  itfelf  is  the  profecutor.  The 
mailer  of  the  crown  office  is  then  an  oilicer  holding  his  ofiice  under 
the  profecutor;  arid  it  is  tliereiore  no  wonder,  tlmt  the  fufpicion  of 
packing  juries  fiiould,  in  h.ich  cafes,   have  been  fo  prevalent. 

This  will  apply  with  additional  force,  when  the  profecution  is  com- 
menced againll  the  author  or  publifner  of  fuch  works  as  treat  of 
reforms,  and  of  the  abolition  of  fuperlluous  places  and  offices,  Sec, 
becaufe  in  fuch  cafes  every  perfon  holding  an  office,  fubjedt  to  that 
fufpicion,  becomes  interelled  as  a  party;  and  the  office,  called  the 
crown-oflice,  niay,  upon  examination,  be  fou;id  to  be  of  this  def- 
cription. 

I  have  heard  it  affcrted,  that  the  irafler  of  the  crown  office  is  to 
open  the  flieriff 's  book  as  it  were  per  hazard,  awd  take  thereout  forty- 
eight  yy/Vf^itv^^  name3,  to  v/hich  "^he  word  merchant  or  efquire  h'- 
affixed.  The  former  c^f  thcfe  are  certainly  proper,  when  the  cafe 
is  betu-ecn  merchants,  and  has  reference  to  the  origin  of  the  cuflom, 
and  to  notiiing  elfc.  As  to  the  word  efquire,  every  m.an  is  an  efquire 
who  pleafcs  to  call  himfelf  efquire;  and  the  fenfible  part  of  mankind 
are  leaving  it  off.  But  the  m.itter  for  enquiry  is,  whether  there  be 
any  exilling  law  to  direcTt  the  mode  by  which  the  forty-cfght  names 
(hall  be  taken,  or  whether  tlie  mode  be  merely  that  of  cuftom  which 
the  office  has  creat-xd  ;  or  whether  the  feledion  of  the  forty-eight  be 


ADDRESS  TO  THE  ADDIIESSERS.  283 

wholly  at  the  difcrction  and  choice  of  the  mailer  of  the  crown-office  ? 
One  or  other  of  the  two  latter  appears  to  be  the  cafe,  bccaufe  the  aft 
already  mentioned,  of  the  3d  of  George  II.  lays  down  no  rule  or 
mode,  nor  refers  to  any  preceding  law — but  fays  only,  that  fpecial 
j-iiries  fiiall  hereafter  be  llruck,  "  infuch  manner  as  fpecial  juries  have 
leen  and  are  ufually  flruck.^^ 

This  a6l  appears  to  me  to  have  been  what  is  generally  underftood 
by  a  "  deep  take  in.''  It  was  fitted  to  the  fpur  of  the  moment  in 
whicli  it  was  pafTed,  3d  of  George  II.  when  parties  ran  high,  and  It 
ferved  to  throw  into  the  hands  of  Walpole,  who  was  then  minifter, 
the  management  of  juries  in  crown  profecutions,  by  making  the  no- 
mination of  the  forty-eight  perfons,  from  whom  the  jury  was  to  be 
llruck,  follow  the  precedent  epLablifhed  by  cuftom  between  individuals, 
and  by  this  means  it  flipt  into  pradice  with  lefs  fufp;'cion.  Now,  the 
manner  of  obtaining  fpecial  juries  through  the  medium  of  an  officer 
of  the  government,  fucli,  for  inftance,  as  a  mafler  of  the  crown-office, 
may  be  impartial  in  the  cafe  of  merchants,  or  other  individuals^  but 
it  becomes  highly  impiTjper  and  fufpicious  in  cafes  where  the  govern- 
ment itfelf  is  oiie  of  the  parties.  And  it  mull,  upon  the  whole, 
appear  a  llrange  iuconfifrency,  that  a  government  fliould  keep  one 
officer  to  nominate  the  forty-eight  perfons  from  whom  the  jury  is  to 
be  llruck,  both  of  whom  are  officers  of  the  civil  lift.,  and  yet  continiie 
to  call  this  by  the  pompous  name  oi  the  glorious  right  of  trial  hy  jury  ! 

In  the  cafe  of  the  king  r.gaind  Jordan,  for  publilhing  Rights  of 
Man,  the  attorney  gcr.c.al  moved  for  the  appointment  of  a  fpecial 
jury,  and  the  maiter  of  the  crown  office  nominated  the  forty-eight 
perfons  himfeif,  and  took  them  from  fuch  part  of  the  llieriff't;  book 
as  he  pleafed.  The  trial  did  not  come  on,  occafioned  by  Jordan 
withdrawing  his  plea  ;  but  il  it  had,  it  might  have  afforded  an  oppor- 
tunity of  difcuffing  the  fubjecl  of  fpecial  juric?  ;  for  though  fucli  dif- 
cuffion  might  have  had  no  elFeft  in  the  court  of  king's  bench  it  would, 
in  the  prcfent  difpof]t:on  for  enquiry,  have  had  a  confiderable  elfedl 
upon  the  country  ;  and  in  ail  national  reforms,  this  is  the  proper 
point  ta  begin  at.  Put  a  country  right,  and  it  v/ill  foon  put  govern- 
ment r:o-ht.  Among  the  improper  things  aded  by  the  goverament 
in  the  cafe  of  fpecial  juries,  on  their  own  motion,  one  has  been  that 
of  treating  the  jury  with  a  dinner,  and  nfterv/ards  giving  each  jury- 
man two  guineas,  if  a  verdift  be  found  for  the  profecution,  and  only 
one  if  otiierwifc  ;  and  it  has  been  long  obferved,  that  in  London  and 
Wellmlnfter  there  are  pevfons  who  appear  to  n^ake  a  trade  of  ferving, 
bv  being  fo  frequently  feen  upon  fpecial  juries. 


284  PAINE^s    WORKS. 

Thus  much  for  fpecial  jwnes.  As  to  what  is  called  a  conimcn  jury, 
upon  any  government  pr</eciJtion  againft  the  author  or  pibliflier 
Of  Rights  of  Man,  durhig  the  time  ol  \\\^  prefmt  foer'iffry^  I  have 
one  queilion  to  oiTcr,  which  is,  ^.vhefhcr  ihe  prefrnt  ficriffs  of  Lrndoiij 
ha-vh:g  publicly  prcjiuhed  the  cafe,  by  tl?e  pari  they  ha=ve  iahcji  in  pro- 
curhig  an  addrefs  from  the  county  of  Mlddbefex  (hGni^cver  dmhiutivs  and 
inugn'ijicant  the  number  of  addnffers  ivere,  being  only  one  hundred  and 
e'l^'hteen)  are  eligible  cr  proper  perfns  to  be  intrvfed  ivith  tue  poiver  of 
return'-ng  a  jury  to  try  the  i/Tue  of  any  fuch  profcuiion. 

But  the  whole  matter  appears,  at  leaft  to  me,  to  be  worthy  of  a 
more  exteniive  confidernlion  than  what  relates  to  any  jury,  whether 
fuecial  or  common  ;  for  the  cafe  is,  whether  any  part  of  a  whole  na- 
tion, locally  fele6ied  as  a  jury  of  twelve  men  always  is,  be  competent 
to  judge  and  determine  for  the  whole  nation,  on  any  matter  that 
relates  to  fvftems  and  principles  of  government,  and  whether  it  be  not 
applying  the  inllitution  of  juries  to  purpofes  for  \vhich  fuch  inllitu- 
tion  was  not  intended  ?  For  example, 

1  have  afferted,  in  the  work  Rights  of  Man,  that  as  every  man 
in  the  nation  pays  taxes,  fo  has  every  man  a  right  to  a  (liarc  in  go- 
vernm.ent,  and  confequently  that  the  people  of  Manchefter,  Birming- 
ham, SheSeld,  Leeds,  Halifax,  &c.  &c.  have  the  fame  right  as  thofe 
of  London.  Shall  then  twelve  men,  picked  out  between  Temple- 
bar  and  Whitechapel)  becaufe  the  book  happened  to  be  firft  pub- 
lillied  there,  decide  upon  the  rights  of  the  inhabitants  of  thofc 
towns,  or  of  any  other  town  or  village  in  the  nation. 

Havincr    thus    fpoken    of  juries,    I    come    next    to    offer    a    few 
|Lobfervations  on    the  matter  contained   in    the   information   or  profe- 

cution. 

The  work.  Rights  of  Man,  confifts  of  part  the  firft,  and  part  the 
fccond.  The  firli  part  the  profecutor  has  thought  it  moil  proper  to 
let  alone  ;  and  from  the  fecond  part  he  has  felefted  a  few  fhort  para- 
fjTaph?,- making  in  the  whole  not  quite  two  pages  of  the  fame  printing 
as  in  the  dheap  edition.  Thofe  paragraphs  relate  chiefly  to  certain 
fatts,  fuch  as  the  revolution  of  1688,  and  the  coming  of  George  the 
hrft,  cbmrtionly  called  of  the  houfe  of  -  Hanover,  or  the  houfe  of 
Bniuf^'ick,  or  fome  fuch  houfe.  The  arguments, -pkn&  and- princi- 
ples cdntained  in  the  work,  the  profeGiitor  has  not  veiitui-ed  to  attaclc 
They  arc 'beyoMhi^  leach."^  -i  \^'-^  ^       .:j'...-..j  dj.-.gj  .Oi;;i  yiuinqo  .ni 

The  a6l  which  the  profecutoi*'ap'^bWl<6'i^eft"  !fw)ftbp^  fdf  tfie  fupl 
port  of  the  profccution,  is  the  aft,  entitled,  •*  An  ^aft,  declaring-  the 
^  rights  and  liberties  of  the  fubjed  and  fettling  the  fuccclfion  of  the 


ADDRESS  XO  THE  ADDRESSERS.  285- 

"  crown,"  pa  (Ted  in  the  firll  year  of  William  and  Mary,  and  more 
-commonly  known  by  the  name  of  the  *'  bill  of  rights." 

I  have  called  this  bill  "  A  hill  ofivrotigs  andof  InfultJ^  My  reafons, 
and  alfo  my  proofs,  are  as  follow  : 

The  method  and  principle  which  this  bill  takes  for  declaring  rights 
and  liberties,  are  in  diredt  contradi6lion  to  rights  and  liberties  ;  it  is  an 
alfumed  attempt  to  take  them  wholly  away  from  pofterlty — for  the 
declaration  in  the  faid  bill  is  as  follows  : 

"  The  lords  fpiritual  and  temporal,  and  commons,  do,  in  the  name 
**  of  all  the  people,  mod  humbly  and  faithfully  fuhm'it  themfel-ve^,  their 
"  keirsf  and prjjterity  for  ever ;'*''  that  is,  to  William  and  Mary  his  wife, 
their  heirs  and  fucceflbra.  This  is  a  ilrange  way  of  declaring  rights 
and  liberties.  But  the  parliament  who  made  this  declaration  in  the 
name,  and  on  the  part  of  ^he  people,  had  no  authority  from  them 
for  fo  doing — and  with  refpecft  to  pojierity  for  ever,  they  had  no  right 
or  authority  whatever  in  the  cafcr  It  was  affumption  and  ulurpation. 
I  have  rea^Dned  very  extenfively  againft  the  principle  of  this  bill,  in 
the  firil;  part  of  Rights  of  Man  ;  the  profecutor  has  filently  admitted 
that  rotifoning,  and  he  now  commences  a  profecution  on  the  autho- 
rity of  the  bill,  after  admitting  the  reafoning  againil  it. 

It  is  alfo  to  be  obferved,  that  the  declaration  in  this  bill,  abjecl  and 
irrational  as  it  is,  had  no  other  intentional  operation  than  againil  the 
family  of  the  Stuarts.,  and  their  abettors.  The  idea  did  ,not  then 
exill,  that  in  the  fpace  of  an  hundred  years,  pcilerity  might  dif- 
cover  a  different  and  much  better  fyilem  of  government,  and  that 
every  fpecies  of  hereditary  government  might  fall  as  popes  and  m.onks 
had  fallen  before.  This,  I  fay,  was  not  then  thought  of,  and  there- 
fore the  apj^iication  of  the  bill,  in  the  prefect  cafe,  is  a  new,  erroneous, 
and  illegal  application,  and  is  the  fame  as  creating  a  new  bill  ex  pojl 
faRo, 

It  has  ever  been  the' craft  of  courtiers,  for  the  purpofe  of  keeping 
up  an  expenfive  and  enormous  civil  lift,  and  a  mummery  of  ufelefs 
and  antiquated  places  and  offices  at  the  public  expence,  to  be  conti- 
nually hanging  England  upon  fome  individual  or  other,  called  king, 
thouo-h  the  man  micrht  not  have  capacity  to  be  a  parifli  conftable. 
The  folly  and  abfurdity  of  this,  is  appearing  more  and  more  every 
day  ;  and  ftill  thofe  men  continue  to  act  as  if  no  alteration  in  the  pub- 
lic opinion  had  taken  place.  They  hear  each  other's  nonfcnfe,  and 
fuppofe  the  whole  nation  talks  the  fame  gibberifl^^j  jj.^j^f,^  jj,j-,  ..,j'^' 

Let  fuch  men  cry  up  the  houfe  cf  Orange,  or  the  houfe  ofBrunfr 
wlek,  if  they  pleafe.     They  would  cry  up  any  other  hou^jiitij^ted 


286  PAINE's    WORKS. 

their  purpofe,  and  give  as  good  reafons  for  it.  But  what  Is  this 
houfe,  or  that  houfe,  or  any  other  houfe  to  a  nation  ?  "  For  a  nation 
to  be  free,  it  is  fiifficisnt  that  Jhe  nvills  it.'''*  Her  freedom  depends 
wholly  upon  herfelf,  and  not  on  any  houfe,  nor  on  any  individual. 
I  aflc  not  in  what  light  this  cargo  of  foreign  houfes  appears  to  others, 
but  I  will  fay  in  what  light  it  appears  to  me. — It  was  like  the  trees 
of  the  foreft,  faying  unto  the  bram/ble,  come  thou  and  reign  over  us. 

Thus  much  for  both  their  houfes.  I  now  come  to  fpcak  of  two 
other  houfes,  which  are  alfo  put  into  the  information,  and  thofe  are 
the  houfe  of  lords,  and  the  houfe  of  commons.  Here,  I  fuppofe, 
the  attorney-general  intends  to  prove  m.e  guilty  of  fpeaking  either 
truth  or  falfliood ;  for,  according  to  the  niodern  interpretation  of 
libels,  it  does  not  lignify  which,  and  the  only  improvem.ent  neceffary 
to  fhew  the  complete  abfurdity  of  fuch  dox?lrfne,  would  be,  to  profe- 
cute  a  man  for  uttering  amofty}?^  and  iviched  truth, 

I  will  quote  the  part  I  am  going  to  ^v^^^  from  the  office  copy, 
with  the  attorney-generaPs  innuendoes,  enclofed  in  parenthefes,  as 
they  itand  in  the  information,  and  I  hope  that  civil  lift  officer  will 
caution  the  court  not  to  laugh  when  he  reads  them,  and  alfo  to  take 
care  not  to  laugh  himfelf. 

The  information  flares.  That  Thomas  Paine,  being  a  ivickcd)  maJi- 
dousjfediilousj  a:id  evil  difpofed perfon,  hath,  ivith  force  and  arms y  and 
mojl  ivicked  cunning,  ivritten  and  puhlifhed  a  certain  falfe,  fcandalous, 
■nia'icious,  and  feditious  libel;  in  one  part  thereof  to  the  tenor  and  effect 
folio  wing,  that  is  to  fay —  .  .  r  .  r 

"  With  refpeft  to  the  two  houfes,  of  which  the  Englifh  parlia- 
ment (meaning  the  parliament  of  this  kingdom)  is  compofcd,  they  ap- 
pear to  be  effectually  influenced  into  one,  and,  as  a  legiflature,  to 
hav«  no  tem.per  of  its  own.  The  m.inifter  ('meaning  the  min'i/ler 
employed  by  the  king  of  this  realm,  in  the  a  dwin'i/l ration  of  the  go'vernment 
thereof)  whoever  he,  at  any  time  may  be,  touches  IT  (meaning 
the  two  houfes  of  parliament  of  this  hingdom)  as  with  an  opium  wand, 
and  IT  (meaning  the  tivo  houfes  of  parliament  of  this  kingdom)  fleeps 
obedience. — As  1  am  not  malicious  enough  to  diflurb  their  rcpofe, 
though  it  be  time  they  fliould  awake,  I  leave  the  two  houfes  and  the 
attorney  general,  to  the  enjoyment  of  their  dreams,  and  proceed  to  a 
new  fubjcft. 

The  gentlemen,  to  whom  I  fliall  next  addrefs  myfelf,  are  thofe 
who  have  flyled  themfelves  "  friends  of  the  people,^*  holdiag  their 
meeting  at  the  freemafon's  tavern,  London. 

One  of  the  principal  members  of  this  fociety,  is  Mr.  Grey,  who, 


ADDRESS  TO  THE  ADDRESSERS.  287. 

I  believe,  is  alfo  one  of  the  mofl  independent  members  in  parliament, 
I  colledl  this  opinion  from  what  Mr.  Burke  formerly  mentioned  to 
me,  rather  than  from  any  knowledge  of  my  own.  The  occafion 
was  as  follows  : 

T  was  in  Encfland  at  the  time  the  bubble  broke  forth  about 
Nootka  Sound  ;  and  the  day  after  the  king's  mcffage,  as  it  h 
called,  was  fent  to  parliament  ;  I  wrote  a  note  to  Mr.  Burke,  that 
upon  the  condition  the  French  revolution  faould  not  be  a  fubje^l  (for 
he  was  then  writing  the  book  I  have  fmce  anfwcred)  I  would  call 
on  him  the  next  day,  and  mention  fome  matters  I  was  acquainted 
with,  refpeiling  the  affair  ;  for  it  appeared  to  me  extraordinary,  tl;at 
any  body  of  men,  calling  themfelves  reprcTentatives,  fhoiild  commit 
themfelves  fo  precipitately,  or,  "  fleep  obedience,'*  as  parliament  was 
then  doing,  and  run  a  nation  into  expenee,  and,  perhaps  a  war,  with- 
out fo  much  as  enquii'ing  into  the  cafe,  or  the  fubjeci,  of  both  v/hich 
I  had  fome  knowledge. 

When  I  faw  Mr.  Burke,  and  micntioned  the  circumflances  to  him, 
he  particularly  fpoke  of  Mr.  Grey,  as  the  fittefl  member  to  bring 
tuch  miatters  forward ;  for,  faid  Mr.  Burke,  ^^  I  am  not  the  proper 
perfon  to  do  it,  as  1  am  in  a  treaty  with  Mr.  Pitt  about  Mr. 
Haftings's  trial."  I  hope  the  attorney-general  will  allow,  that  Mr. 
Burke  was  thtn  Jleeping  his  obedience. — But  to  return  to  the  ft>ciety — 

I  cannot  bring  myfelf  to  believe,  that  the  general  motive  of  this  fo- 
ciety  is  any  thing  more  than  that  by  which  every  former  parliamentary 
oppofition  has  been  governed,  and  by  which  the  prefent  is  fufficiently 
known.  Failing  in  their  purfuit  of  power  and  place  within  doory, 
they  have  now  (and  that  not  in  a  very  mannerly  manner)  endeavoured 
to  pofTcfs  themfelves  of  that  ground  out  of  doors,  which,  had  it  not 
been  made  by  others,  would  not  have  been  made  by  them.  They 
appear  to  me  to  have  watched,  with  more  cunning  than  candor,  the 
progrefs  of  a  certain  publication,  and  when  they  faw  it  had  excited  a 
fpirit  of  enquiry,  and  was  rapidly  fpreading,  they  ftepped  forward  to 
profit  by  the  opportunity,  and  Mr.  Fox  then  called  it  a  libel.  In 
faying  this,  he  libelled  himfeif.  Politicians  of  this  caft,  fuch,  J  mean, 
as  thofe  who  trim  between  parties,  and  He  by  for  events,  are  to  be 
found  in  every  countr)-,  and  it  never  yet  happened  that  they  did  not 
do  more  harm  than  good.  They  embarrafs  bufmefs,  fritter  it  to 
nothing,  perplex  the  people,  and  the  event  to  themfelves  generally  is, 
that  they  go  juft  far  enough  to  make  enemies  of  the  few,  without 
going  far*enough  to  make  friends  of  the  many. 

Whoever  will  read  the  declarations  of  this  fociety,  of  the  25th  of 


288  P  A  I  N  E  *  s    W  O  R  K  S. 

April,  and  5th  of  May,  will  find  a  ftudied  referve  upon  all  the  points 
that  are  real  abufes.  They  fpeak  not  once  of  the  extravagance  of 
govcrmncntj  of  the  abominable  liii  of  unneceflary  and  finecure  places 
and  penfions,  of  the  enormity  of  the  civil  lift  of  the  excefs  of  taxes, 
nor  of  any  one  matter  that  fiibftantially  affedls  the  nation  ;  and  from 
fome  convcriat:on  that  has  pafTed  in  that  fociety,  it  does  not  appear 
to  rne  that  it  is  any  part  of  their  plan,  to  carry  this  clafs  of  re- 
forms into  prattice.  No  oppofition  party  ever  did,  when  it  gained 
poileiTion. 

In  making  thefe  free  obfervations,  I  mean  not  to  enter  into  con- 
tention with  iliis  lociety,  their  incivility  towards  me  is  what  I  Ihould 
expect  from  place-hunting  reformers.  They  are  welcome,  however, 
to  the  ground  they  have  advanced  upon,  and  1  vvi(h  that  every  indi- 
vidual among  them  may  a6t  in  the  fame  upright,  uninfluenced,  and 
public  fpirited  manner  that  I  have  done.  Whatever  reforms  m>ay  be 
obtained,  and  by  whatever  means,  they  will  be  for  tlie  benefit  of 
others,  and  not  of  me.  I  have  no  other  interefb  in  the  caufe  than 
the  intereft  of  my  heart.  The  part  I  have  aifted  has  been  wholly 
that  of  a  volunteer,  unconnecied  with  party  ;  and  when  I  quit,  it 
\lhall  be  as  honourably  as  I  began. 

,1  confider  the  reform  of  parliament,  by  an  application  to  parlia- 
ment, as  propofed  by  the  fociety,  to  be  a  worn-out  hackney  fubjed, 
about  vv'hich  the  nation  is  tired,  and  the  parties  are  deceiving  each 
other.  It  is  not  a  fubjeft  that  is  cognizable  before  parliament,  be- 
caufe  no  govenunent  has  a  right  to  alter  itfeif,  either  in  whole  or 
in  part.  The  right,  and  the  exercife  of  that  right,  appertains  to  the 
^nation  only,  and  the  proper  mean  is  by  a  national  convention,  eleded 
fo.r  the  purpofe,  by  -Al  the  people.  By  this,  the  will  of  the  nation 
whether  to  reform  or,  not,  or  v/hat  the  reform  fliall  be,  or  how  far  it 
fliall  extend,  will  be  known,  and  it  cannot  be  known  by  any  other 
means.  Partial  addreifes,  or  feparate  aiTociationi,  are  snot  tefliiTio- 
_nieg,  of, the  general  will,  ■:■.  v  .A       ut   •=->t- ,*> 

i^ofltHSb  ihow^ver,  certain,  that  the  opin/ons  of  men,  with  refpe^l  t» 
fyftems  and.prjiTciples  of  government,  are  changing  fait  in  all  cO'Untries. 
Tiie  alteration  in  England,  within  the  fpace  of  little  mofre  thati  a  yem?, 
is  far  grater  than  could  have  been  believed,  ^nd^it  is- daily  and  hourly 
increafmg.  It  moves  along  the  country  with  the  iilence  ef  thought. 
The  enormous  expence  of  .goveniment  has  provodccd  men  to  think, 
by  making  them  feel  ;  and  tlie  proclanTfation  has  fenced  to  increafc 
jealoufy  and  difguit,  To  prevent,  therefore,  thofe  commotio'iis 
-which  too  often  Anil  too   fyddenly  arile.::^om  fuffocatcd  difcontent^ 


ADDRESS  TO  THE  ADDRESSERS.  i^g 

it  is  beft  that  the  general  will  fliould  have  tlie  fall  and  free  oppor- 
tunity of  b  ing  publicly  afcertained  and  known. 

Wretched  as  the  (late  of  reprefentation  is  in  England,  it  is  every 
day  becoming  worfe,  becaufe  the  unreprefentcd  parts  of  the  nation 
are  increafing  in  population  and  property,  and  the  reprefented  parts 
are  decreafing.  It  is,  therefore,  no-ill  grounded  eftinnation  to  fay, 
that  as  not  one  perfou  in  feven  is  reprefented,  at  leall  fourteen  mil- 
h'ons  of  taxes,  out  of  the  feventeen  millions,  are  paid  by  the  unre- 
prefentcd part  ;  for  although  copyholds  and  leafeholds  are  affeffed  to 
the  land  tax,  the  holders  are  unreprefented,  Sliould  then  a  general 
demur  take  place  as  to  the  obligation  of  paying  taxes,  on  the  ground 
of  not  being  reprefented,  it  is  not  the  reprefentatives  of  rotten  bo- 
roughs, nor  fpecial  juries,  that  can  decide  the  queftion.  This  is  one 
of  the  poflible  cafes  that  ought  to  be  forefeen,  In  order  to  prevent  the 
inconveniences  that  might  arife  to  numerous  individuals,  by  provok- 

i*ig  it. 

'■  I  confefs  I  have  no  idea  of  petitioning  for  rights.  Whatever  the 
rights  of  people  are,  they  have  a  right  to  them,  and  none  have  a  right 
cither  to  withhold  them,  or  to  grant  them.  Government  ought  to  be 
eftabliflied  on  fuch  principles  of  juftice  as  to  exclude  the  occafion  of 
all  fuch  applications;  for  wherever  they  appear,  they  are  virtually 
accufations. 

I  wi(h  that  Mr.  Grey,  fincc  he  has  embarked  in  the  bufinefs, 
would  take  the  whole  of  it  into  confidcration.  He  will  then  fee, 
that  the  right  of  reforming  the  ftate  of  the  reprefentation  does  not 
refide  in  parliament,  and  that  the  only  motion  he  could  confiftently 
make,  would  be,  that  parliament  fhould  recGmme:id  the  eledlion  of  a 
convention  by  all  the  people,  becaufe  all  pay  taxes.  But  whether 
parliament  recommended  it  or  not,  the  right  of  the  nation  would 
neither  be  leffened  nor  increafed  thereby. 

As  to  petitions  from- the  unreprefented^part,  they  ought  not  to  be 
looked  for.  As  well  might  it  be  expefted  that  Manchefler,  Sheffield, 
&c.  fliould  petition  the  rotten  boroughs,  as  that  they  fhould  petition 
the  reprefentatives  of  thofe  boroughs.  Thofe  two  towns  alone  pay 
far  more  taxes  than  all  the  rotten  boroughs  put  together,  and  it  is 
fcarcely  to  be  expedled  they  fliould  pay  their  court  either  to  the  bo- 
roughs, or  the  borough-mongers. 

It  ought  alfo  to  be  obferved,  that  what  Is  called  parliament,  Is 
compofed  of  two  houfes  that  have  always  declared  againft  the  right 
of  each  other  to  Interfere  in  any  matter  that  related  to  the  circum- 
ftances  of  either,  particularly  that  of  eledlon,     A  reform,  therefore 

V«L.  IL  P  p 


290 


PAINE's    WORKS. 


in  the  reprefentation,  cannot,  on  the  ground  they  have  individually 
taken,  become  the  fubjeft  of  an  aft  of  parhament,  bccaufe  fuch  a 
mode  would  include  the  interference,  againil  which  the  commons  on 
their  part  have  protciled;  but  muft,  as  well  on  the  ground  of  forma- 
lity, as  on  that  of  right,  proceed  from  a  national  convention. 

Let  Mr.  Grey,  ©r  any  other  man,  fit  down  and  endeavour  to  put 
his  thoughts  together,  for  the  purpofe  of  drawing  up  an  application 
to  parhament  for  a  reform  of  parliament,  and  he  will  foon  convmce 
himfelf  of  the  folly  o^  the  attempt.  He  will  find  that  he  cannot  get 
on  ;  that  he  cannot  make  his  thoughts  join,  fo  as  to  produce  any  ef- 
fed;  for  whatever  formality  of  words  he  may  ufe,  they  will  unavoid- 
ably include  two  ideas  dircftly  oppofed  to  each  other;  the  one  in 
fetting  forth  the  reafons,  the  other  in  praying  for  the  rehef,  and  the 
two  when  placed  together,  would  (land  thus:  *'  Tbe  reprefentation  in 
parliament  is  fo  very  corrupt^  that  tue  can  no  longer  confide  in  tt^—and 
therefore^  confiding  in  the  jnfiice  and  ^cifdc-:i  of  parliament,   'we  pray,,''* 

The  heavy  manner  in  which  every  former  propofed  application  to 
parliament  has  dragged,  fufFtciently  fhews,  that  though  the  nation 
mi"ht  not  exaftlv  fee  the  awkwardnefs  (if  the  meafure,  it  could  not 
clearly  fee  its  way,  by  tliat  mean.  To  this  alfo  may  be  added  anq- 
-ther  remark,  v/hich  is,  that  the  worfe  j^cu-liament  is,  the  lefs  will  be 
the  inclination  to  petition  it.  This  indifference,  viewed  as  it  ought 
to  be,  is  one  of  the  ilrongeft  cenfurcs  the  public  exprefs.  It  is  as  if 
they  were  to  fay,   *'  Ye  are  not  worth  reforming." 

Let  any  man  examine  the  court-kalendar  of  placemen  in  both  hou- 

fes,  and  the  manner  in  which  the  civil  lift  operates,  and  he  will  be  at 

no  lofs  to  account  for  this  indifference  and  want  of  coniidence  on  one 

fide,  nor  of  the  oppofition  to  reforms  on  the  other.  ^^  j^^i^ 

1;,-     Befides  the   numerous  lift  of  paid  perfons  exhibited  in  the  court- 

;kalendar,  which  fo  indecently  fta)-es  the  nation  in  the  face,  there  is  an 

Ictmknown  number  of  mafkjd  penlioncrtj,  which  renders  jjarliament  ftill 

more  fufpeded.  ■:  Jpnoi.. 

Who  would  have  fuppofed  that    Mr.  Burke,  holding  forth-  as  he 

formerly  did  againft  fecrct  infiuence,  and  corrupt  majorities,  fliould 

i' become  a  concealed  penfioner  ?   I  will  now  ftate  the  caic,  not  for  the 

'» little  purpofe  of  expofmg  Mr.  Burke,  but  to  ftiev/  the  inconfiftency  of 

SBV  application  to  a  body  of  men,  more  than  halfjpf  whom,  as  far  as 

the  nation  can  at  prefent  know,  may  be  in  the  fame  .^afe  with  himfelf. 

Towards    the  end  of    lord   North's  adminiftration,   Mr.    Burke 

|}jpup-ht  a  bill  int«  pariiam&nt,  generally  knovf n  by  the  name  ©f  Mr. 


ADDRESS  TO  THE  ADDRESSERS.  291 

Burke's  reform  bill ;  In  which,  among  other  things,  it  is  enaded, 
*♦  That  no  penfion,  exceeding  the  fum  of  three  hundred  pounds  a 
year,  fliall  be  granted  to  any  one  perfon,  and  that  the  whole  amount 
of  the  penfions  granted  i.i  one  year  fliall  not  exceed  fix  hundred 
pounds  ;  a  lift  of  which,  ^*  together  with  tlie  riaines  of  the  perfons  to 
whom  the  fame  are  granted,  fliall  be  laid  before  parliament  in  twenty 
days  after  the  beginning  of  each  fcffion,  until  the  whole  penfion  Hit 
fhall  be  reduced  to  ninety  thoufand  pounds."  A  provifory  claufe  is 
afterwards  added,  *'  That  it  fliall  be  lawful  for  the  firil  commiflioner 
of  the  treafury,  to  return  into  the  exchequer,  any  penfion  or  annuity, 
<iviihout  a  name,  on  his  making  oath  that  fuch  penfion  or  annuity  Is 
not  dired;ly  or  indirecftly  for  the  benefit,  ufe,  or  behoof  of  any  mem- 
ber of  the  houfe  of  commons." 

But  foon  after  that  admin iflration  endfd^  and  the  party  Mr.  Burke 
adled  with,  came  into  power,  It  appears  from  the  circumilaucca  I  am 
^olng  to  relate,  that  Mr.  Burke  became  himfelf  a  penfioner  In  dif- 
guife;  in  a  fimihr  manner,  as  if  a  penfion  had  been  granted  in  the 
name  of  John  Nokes,  to  be  privately  paid  to  and  enjoyed  by  Tom 
Stiles.  The  name  of  Edmund  Burke  does  not  appear  in  the  origin<il 
tranfa(3:ion:  But  after  the  penfion  was  obtained,  Mr.  Burke  wanted 
"to  'make  t^e  mo  ft  of  it  at  once,  by  fcUingor  mortgaging  it.y  and-llbe 
gentlemen,  in  whofe  name  th<?  penfion  ftands,  applied  totmeof  the 
public  offices  for  that  pavpofe.  This  unfortunately  brought  forth 
the  name  of  Edmund  Burke,  as  the  real  penfioner  of  ^.1,500  per 
annum.  When  men  trumpet  forth  what  they  call  the  blcfiines  bf 
the  conftitutlon,  it  ought  to  be  known  what  fort  of  bleffings  they 
allude  to.'  'Jji  ^lij  bun  ,&5> 

As  to  the  civil  lift,   of  a  milhon  a  year,  it  is  not  to  te  fiippofed 
that  any  one  man  can  eat,  drink,  or  confuine  the  whole  upon  himfelf. 
The  cafe  is,   that  above  }\alfthis  fum  is  annually  apportioned  among 
courtiers,  and   court  members  of  both  houfes,   in  places  and  office;, 
*  altogether  Infignificant  and  perfttlilly  ufelefs,  as   to  every  puqiofeiKjf 
civil,  rational,  and  manly  government.      For  iiiihince,  ^-^-^JJt  ^JTO;f^ 
'      Of  what  ufe  in  the  fcience  and  fyftem  of  governm.entj  ■%'iv¥at  js 
Called  a  lord  chamberlain,  a  mafter  and  a  mifttvfs  of  the  robes,  a  inkf- 
^fe-^of  the^  hd*rfe,'  a  imafter  of  the  hawks,  and  a«  hundred  oiiierrfHth 
^»*hts[pf^'lLawi^  derive  ho  additiortal  force,  nor  additional  excellente 
■^Crimi  fuch-mumn'tery.''*  '*"-*'  "'-■'••  ■■■-••-  -      --   '^  .:  ;:  ..■-.::ii_-;.fjq.-.  yju 
^^''  Iti  the  dirinrpfeinetn^'t^f  t1tt^a*viriifl"fOf  t!i^  year  178^  fwhichtfi^y 
^4)\f  ften  fn  firJohnSt.  daily's  Hlftoryofthe  Revenue)  are  fotir  fcpa- 
^e'^Kk%^?of'tlii5itAimn\er)^  office  of  chiiijibcilaiii:  '^^^  *  ^'^SM<ttid 


29«  PA  I  N  E  's     WO  R  K  S. 

•       rft.  -             -             -              ;^.38>778   17  — 

2(].  .  .  -  -  3,coo 

5d.  -               -             -               24,069   19  — 

4th.  -             .-               -               -          10,000    18      3 


i;,75,S49  14     3 

Bciidcs  ^-1,1  19  ch?i".i;ed  for  alms. 

From  this  iiiinplc,  thtMeit  may  be  gucffed  at.     As  to  the  maftcr 

of  tlie  hawks  (tbcre  arc  nq  hawks  kept,  aiid  it"  there  were,    it  is  no 

rcafwn  the  people  ihyuM  pay  the  expeucf?  of  fteding  them,   many  of 

whom   are  put  to   It   10   gt;t   bread  for  tncir  children)   his  ialary  is 

r -1,11  2      ;0. 

Ar,u  b^^ikles  a  lia  of  items  of  this  kind,  fufficient  to  fill  a  quire  of 
pap<;r,  the  pe;riion  lifts  alone  are  ^.107,404  13  4,  which  is  a  greater 
ium  tliaii  all  the  expenccs  of  the  federal  government  in  America 
amontit  W. 

Arnon;:;-  tlie  iiemr,,  there  are  two  I  had  no  expectations  of  finding, 
and  which,  in  this  urv  o^  enquiry  after  civil  liil  influence,  ought  to 
be  expofe^.      The  op.e  is  an  annual  payment  of  one  thoiifand  feven 
hundiied-p^uridstc  tliC  diiTeating  minitlers  in  Engla,u4>.^ftd:the...ath£iv. 
ciglii->|im-id,rv^d  pounds  to  thofe  in  Ireland.  "io  trcq  yhs  "^jni-rrtfr  ' 

,fri^4sr,J3iithe  fati  ;  and  the  dillribuLion,  as  I  am  infgmffpjh-a^  foU 
lows  :  Hie  whole  fum  of /*.  1,700  is  paid  to  one  perfon,  a  dilTenting 
mJKi4qi\T^!^,;L(Andpn,  who  divides  it  among  eight  others ;  and  thofe 
c.i->:lit:-^tjik)ng.fuch  others  as  they  pleaie.  The  lay-body  of  the  dif- 
iente|.s,-,i^uci  mawy  of  their  principal  miniilers,  have  long  confidered 
it,.a&.d4Caunuurable-,i  and  have  endeavoured  to  prevent  it,  but  flili  it 
contiiiucs  to  be  fceretiv  paid;  and  as  the  world  has  fometimes  feeu 
very.ifalfyirm  addrePii^s  irom  parts  of  th.at  body,  it  may  naturally  be 
fup/poCed,  thatlhe  receivers,  like  bifliops  and  other  court-clergy,  are 
not  idle  in  promoting  them.  How  the  money  is  diicributed  in  Ire- 
land,   !|  ,kuqw  not. 

.Xu.:^Vf!^!'W^  ''^^  ^'"'^  fecret  hillory  of  the  civil  lift,    is  not  the  inten- 
tion 0/  this  publication.      It  is  fufficient  in  this  place>t  t.03iff!fepofeiit.ii 
r^reiieval  character,   and  the  mafs  of  influence  it  keeps  alive. -.    It  will-. 
iieceirArily  beconie  one  of  t}>e  obje;ds  of  rtjform;  and  tlurpfore  enough 
is  fai«J  toi})e^v,;.hfU  uu|L^er  it^s  v)perat.ipn,^  n  to  p.^rliamej)fe    . 

can  be  p^pedfcJ..toT;|9ae^d,'.r,o]i-)can.confi1U  jp^^t^r^ul  -iiWio  w<^ 

S^^ch  reforms  u^iLfiot  be,promote.(|iby,the.p^ks,-ty,Jt)?^t  i^  yi, p<)|reiV;x  > 
lion  of  thofe  pl9ccs,:;Upr,J>y  iheoppofitioirwho  are  ,waitij3^g  for  them;:' 
and  as  to  a  nicn^r^fc^t^n  j^j^^nG:S^^tf-,^^^^^  uua€j!M}jft'.v 


ADDRESS  TO  THE  ADDRESSERS.  293 

idea  that  another  parliament,  differently  elefted  to  the  prcfent,  but 
iVdl  a  component  third  part  of  tlie  fame  fyilem,  and  fubjeft  to  the 
control  of  the  other  two  parts,  will  abolidi  thofe  abufes,  is  altoge- 
ther delufion;  becaufe  it  is  not  only  impracticable  or^  the  ground  of 
formality,  but  is  unwifely  expofmg  another  fet  of  men  Ikj  the  fame 
corruptions  that  have  tainted  the  prcfent. 

Wei'e  all  the  objc'fts  that  require  a  reform  accomplidial-Jeby  a  mere 
reform  in  the  ftate  of  reprcfentation,  the  pcrfons  who  compofe  the 
prefent  parliament  might,  with  rather  more  propriety,  be  aflved  to' 
abolirti  all  the  abufes  themfelves,  than  be  applied  to  as  the  mere  ii^.- 
llruments  of  doinc^it  by  a  future  parliament.  If  the  virtue  be  want- 
ing to  abolilh  the  abufe,  it  is  alfo  wantin;^-  to  aft  as  the  means,  and 
the  nation  mult,  of  necefiity,  proceed  by  fome  other  plan. 

Having  thus  endeavoured  to  fiiew  what  the  ribjedl  condition  of  par- 
liament is,  and  the  impropriety  of  going  a  fecond  time  over  the  f:ime 
ground  that  has  before  mifcarried,  I  come  to  the  remai:;ii:g  part  of 
the  fubjecl.  !:■;--. 

There  ought  to  be,  in  the  conflitution  of  every  country',  a 'ttto^t- 
of  referring  back,  on  any  extraordinary  occafion,  to  the  fovereii'-n  and 
original  conftituent  pov/er,  which  is  the  nation  itfelf.  The  right  of 
altering  any  part  of  a  government  cannot,  as  already  obferved,  refid-c 
in  the  government,  or  thlat  government  might  make  itfelf  *vvhat'  it 
pleafed.  '    '     :  ••'-i  • 

It  ought  alfo  to  be  taken  for  granted,  that  though  a  nation^fey'- 
feel  inconveniences,  either  in  the  excefs  of  taxation,  or  in  th'e'motJe'' 
of  expenditure,  or  in  any  thing  elfe,  it  may  not  at  firllbe  fuiricJerrt^'v^^ 
afTured  in  what  p&rt  of  its  government  the  defeft  lies,  or  whe'i't"  tl^t-" 
evil  originates.  It  may  be  fuppofed  to  be  in  one  part,*  ahd'^li''^ 
enquiry  be  found  to  be  in  another;  or  partly  in  all.  Thi^-obfcu-" 
rity  is  naturally  interwoven  with  what  are  called  mixed  gdver/!- 
ments.        >Judnhib  &i  \w:^'  lo-q  t:\  -iliJi  iu" 

Be,  however,    the  reform  to  be  ac<:omplifl>cd  v.-hatcver  it  rThav,''iP 
can  only  follow  in  confequence  of  ^irft  obtaining  a  full  knowled'c'-e  6f 
allthe  caufes   that  have  rendered  fuch  reform  neceffary,   and'ewrV'"  ' 
thing  ihort  of  this,  i»  giiefs-work  or  frivolous  cunnin'^.      In  thisxafeV^ : 
it  cannot  be  fuppofed  that  any  application  to  pailiamcnt  cat!  bnVg"  ' 
forward  this  knowledge.  '  The  body  is  itfelf  the  fuppofed  cii6fe,'^'^f/" 
one  of  the  fuppofed  caufes,  of  the  abufes  in  qucftioii  j  ftnld'ciannot'  be*' ' 
cxpefted,  and  ou^ht  not  to  be  a  (Iced,  to  give  evidence  agjiilir:  itfelf^ 
The  enquiry  therefore,  which  is  of  necellity  the  firil  ftep  in  t);c  huT/-' ' 
ivsfs,  cannot  be  truftcd  to  parliament,  but'mafl:  be  undbi'bL'eh'l^i"  * 


294  PAINE's     WORKS. 

di{lin(5l  body  of  men,  feparated  from  every  fufpicion  of  corruption  or 
influence. 

Inftead,  then,  of  referring  to  rotten  boroughs  and  abfurd  cor- 
porations for  addrefTes,  or  hawking  them  about  the  country  to 
be  figned  by  a  few  dependant  tenants,  the  real  and  effe6lual  mode 
would  be  to  come  at  once  to  the  point,  and  to  afcertain  the  fenfe  of 
the  nation  by  elefting  a  national  convention.  By  this  method,  a-s 
already  obferved,  the  general  will,  whether  to  reform  or  not,  or 
what  the  reform  fhall  be,  or  how  far  it  fhall  extend,  will  be  known, 
and  it  cannot  be  known  by  any  other  means.  Such  a  body,  empow- 
ered and  fupported  by  the  nation,  will  have  authority  to  demand  in- 
formation upon  all  matters  necefTary  to  be  enquired  into ;  and  no 
minifter,  nor  any  other  perfon,  will  dare  to  refufe  it.  It  will  then 
be  feen  whether  feventecn  millions  of  taxes  are  necefTary,  and  for  what 
purpofes  they  are  expended.  The  concealed  penfioners  will  then  be 
obliged  Lo  unmafl<:  ;  and  the  fource  of  influence  and  corruption,  if 
any  fuch  there  be,  will  be  laid  open  to  the  nation,  not  for  the  pur- 
pofe  of  revenge,  but  of  redrefs. 

By  taking  this  public  and  national  ground,  all  objedlions  againft 
partial  addrefTes  on  the  one  fide,  or  private  afTociations  on  the  other, 
\yill  be  done  away,  the  nation  will  decree  its  own  reforms; 
and  the  clamour  about  party  and  fa6lion,  or  ins  or  outs,  will  become 
ridiculous.  .-vbsinabTqaT  siiT 

^  The  plan  and  organization  of  a  convention  is  eafy  in  praftice:^*'^"^'^^ 
'•^•"In  the  firfi  place,  the  number  of  inhabitants  in  every  county  can" 
be  fufHciently  enough  known,  from  the  number  of  houfes  afTefTed  to 
the  houfe  and  window-light  tax  in  each  county.  This  will  give  the 
r  lie  for  apportioning  the  number  of  members  to  be  elected  to  the  na- 
tional convention  in  each  of  the  counties.  at»avy 
^'If  the  total  number  of  inhabitants  in  England  be  feven  millions, 
aiiid  the  total  number  of  members  to  be  ele6i:ed  to  the  convention  be 
elite  thou fand,  the  number  of  members  to  be  elefted  in  a  county,  con- 
taming  one  hundred  and  fifty  thoufand  inhabitants,  will  be  tiveuty- 
er,e,  and  in  like  proportion  for  any  other  county^'*^^^'^  ^'-'  ^^^(fiv/lB  -iir/* 
As  the  election  of  a  convfntion  misft,  in  order  to '  aTcef tain  thV 
'general  fenfe  of  the  nation,  ^o  on  grounds  different  from  that  of 
parliamentary  elections,  the  mode  that  befl  promifcs  this  end '  w^ill 
have  no  dilhculties  to  combat  with  from  abfurd  cuftoms  and  pr^-^ 
tended  rights.  The  right  of  every  man  will  be  the  fame,  Tvhetlicr 
he  lives  iii  a  city,  a  town.  Of  a  •  villkge.  "  The  "^ftom  of  attaching 
rights  io^Iadj  br  in  otli«r' words  td  maniiiriate  wihttei',  inftcad  ofi^ 


ADDRESS  TO  THE  ADDRESSERS.  295 

the  per/an,  independently  of  place,  is  too  abfurd  to  make  any  part  of 
a  rational  argument. 

As  every  man  in  the  nation,  of  the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  pays 
taxes,  either  out  of  the  property  he  pofTeffes,  or  out  of  the  produ6l 
of  his  labour,  which  is  property  to  him  ;  and  is  amenable  in  his  own 
perfon  to  every  law  of  the  land  ;  fo  has  every  one  the  fame  equal 
right  to  vote,  and  no  one  part  of  a  nation,  nor  any  individual,  has  a 
right  to  difpute  the  right  of  another.  The  man  who  fhould  do 
this,  ougiit  to  forfeit  the  exercife  of  his  O'wri  right  for  a  term  of 
years.     This  would  render  the  punifhment  confident  with  the  crime. 

When  a  qualification  to  vote  is  regulated  by  years,  it  is  placed  on 
the  firmell  poflible  ground  ;  becaufe  the  qualification  is  fuch,  as  no- 
thing but  dying  before  the  time  can  take  away  ;  and  the  equahty  of 
rights,  as  a  principle,  is  recognized  in  the  a(9:  of  regulating  the  exer- 
cife. But  when  rights  are  placed  upon,  or  made  dependant  upon 
property,  they  are  on  the  moll  precanous  of  all  tenures,  "  Riches 
make  themfelves  wings,  and  fly  away,"  and  the  rights  fly  with  them; 
and  thus  they  become  loft  to  the  man  when  they  would  be  of  moft 
vahie.  :B«icfo  Fk 

,-It  is  froma  ftrange  mixture  of  tyranny  and  cowardice,   that  ex? 
clufions  have  been  fet  up  and  continued.     The  boldnefs  to  do  wrong    : 
at  firfl,  changes  afterwards  into  cowardly  craft,  and  at  laft  into  fear. 
The  rcprefcntatives  in  England   appear  now  to  acl  as  if  they  were 
afraid  lo  do  right,  even  in  part,  left  it  fliould  awaken  the  nation  to  a 
feafeof  all  the  wrongs  it  has  endured.     This  cafe  ferves  to  fliew,  that 
the  fame  conduft  that  beft  conftitutes  the  fafcty   of  an   individual, 
namely,  a  ftridl  adherence  to  principle,  conftitutes  alfo  the  fafety  of 
a   government,  and  that  without  it  fafety  is  but  an  empty   name.. 
When  the  rich  plunder  the  poor  of  his  rights,  it  becomes  an  example  ? 
to  the  poor  to  plunder  the  rich  of  tis  property;  for  the  rights  of  the 
one  are  as  much  property  to  him,  as  wealth  is  property  to  the  other, 
and  the  liitle  nil  is  as  dear  as  the  much.     It  is  only  by  fetting  out  on 
juft  principles  that  men  are  trained  to  be  juft  to  each  other  ;  and  it  ■ 
will  ahvays   be  found,   that  when  the  rich  protedl  the  rights  of  the  r» 
poor,  the  poor  will  protedl  the  property  of  the  rich.     But  the  gua- 
rantee, to  be  effcvflual,  muft  be  parliamentarily  reciprocal^j^j.j}  Jfi-j^n*^* 

Exclufions  are  not  only  unjuft,  but  they  frequently  operate  as  inju- 
rioufly  to  the  party,  who  monopohzes,  as  to  thofe  who  are  excluded. 
When  men  fcek  to  exclude  others  from  participating  in  tlie  exercife  . 
of  any  right,  they  fhould,  at  leaft,  be  affured,  that  they  can  effec-  - 
tually  perform  the  whole  of  the  bufinefs  they  undertake;  for  unlefg 


296  P  A  1  N  E  *  s    W  O  R  K  S. 

they  do  this,  thenifclves  will  be  lofers  by  the  monopoly.  This  has 
been  the  cafe  with  refpe6l  to  the  monopoh'zed  right  of  eleftion.  The 
monopolizing  party  has  not  been  able  to  keep  the  parliamentary  re- 
prefentation,  to  whom  the  power  of  taxation  was  entrufted,  in  the 
Hate  it  ought  to  have  been,  and  have  thereby  multiplied  taxes  upon 
themlelves  eqi;al:y  with  thofe  who  were  excluded. 

A  great  deal  has  been,  and  will  continue  to  be  faid,  about  difqua- 
liiications,  arifing  from  the  coir.iniliion  of  offences;  but  were  this  fub- 
je6l  urged  to  its  full  extent,  it  would  disqualify  a  great  nnm.bcr  of' 
the  prefent  eledors,  together  with  their  reprefentatives  ;  for,  of  all 
offences,  none  are  more  deflructive  to  the  morals  of  fociety  than  bri- 
bery and  corruption.  It  is,  therefore,  civility  to  fuch  perfons  to  pafs 
this  fubject  over,  and  to  give  them  a  fair  opportunity  of  recovering,  ' 
or  rather  of  creating  chara6ier. 

Every  thing,  in  the  prefent  mode  of  eleflioneering  in  England,  is 
the  reverfe  of  what  it  ought  to  be,  and  the  vulgarity  that  attends 
elections  is  no  other  than  the  natural  confequence  of  inverting  the 
order  of  the  fyftem. 

In  the  firil  place,  the  candidate  feeks  the  elector,  inftead  cf  the 
cleftor  feeking  for  a  reprefentative  ;  and  the  eleftors  are  advertifed 
as  being  in  the  intereft  of  the  candidate,  inftead  of  the  candidate 
being  in  the  intereft  of  the  electors.  The  candidate  pays  the  eleftor 
for  his  vote,  inflead  of  the  nation  paying  the  reprefentative  for  his 
time  and  attendance  on  public  bufinefs.  The  complaint  for  an  un- 
due eleftion  is  brought  by  the  candidate;  as  if  he,  and  not  the  elec- 
tors, were  the  party  aggrieved;  and  he  takes  on  himfelf  at  any  penod 
of  the  eledlion,  to  break  it  up,  by  declining,  as  if  the  election  was  in 
his  right  and  not  in  theirs. 

The  compact  that  was  entered  into  at  the  laft  Weftminfter  election 
between  two  of  the  candidates  (Mr.  Fox  and  lord  Hood)  was  an 
indecent  violation  of  the  principles  of  election.  The  candidates,  af- 
fumed,  in  their  own  perfons,  the  rights  of  th€  eledlors  ;  for  it  was 
©nly  in  the  body  of  the  ele(5\ors,  and  not  at  all  in  the  candidates,  that 
the  right  of  making  any  fuch  compact  or  compromife  could  cxift. 
.  But  the  principle  of  eleftion  and  reprefentation  is  fo  completely  done 
away,  in  cveiy  ftage  thereof,  that  Inconfiftency  has  no  longer  the  power 
of  iurpriling. 

Neither  from  eleftions  thus  conducted,  nor  from  rotten  borough 
addreffers,  nor  from  county  meetings,  promoted  by  placemen  and 
penfioners,  can  the  fcnfe  of  the  nation  be  known.  It  is  ftill  cor- 
ruption    appeah'ng    to    itfelf.      But    a    convention    of   a   thoufand 


ADDPjE;^S  a^O.THSr addresses.  297 

peiTons,   fairly    elected,     would    bring    every  ir.atLcr    to    a    decided 
,  iffiie. 

As  to  county  racetino^Sj  it  is  only  pcrfons  of  leifure,  or  tliofe  who 
live  near  to  the  place  of  meelir.g,  tint  can  attend,  and  the  niinVosr  on 
fuch  occafions  is  but  like  a  drop  in  the  bucket  compared  with  the 
whole.  The  oiily  confident  fervice  which  fuch  meetinps  could  rea 
der,  v.'ould  be  that  of  apportioning  the  county  into  convenient  dif- 
' trials,  and  when  this  is  done,  each  diil rift  might,  according  to  its 
number  of  inhabitants,  eleil  its  cjuota  of  comity  membevs  to  the 
.  national  convention  ;  aiidthe  vote  of  each  elector  might  be  taken  in 
the  parifh  where  he  relided,  either  by  ballot  or  by  voice,  as  he  fiiould 
choofe  to  rive  it.  . 

A  national  convention  tiius  fv^rmpd,  would  bring  together  tlie  fenfe 

?nd  opinions  of  every  part  of  the  nation,,  fairly  taken.'     The  fcience 

of  government,  and  the  intcrell  of  tlie  pr.blic,  and  of  the  feveral  parts 

■••b thereof  would  then,  undergo  an  ample  and  r.itional  difcufuon,    freed 

from  the  language  of  .parliamentary  diguife. 

But  in  all  deliberations  of  this  kind,   thouodi  men  have  a  rio-ht  to 
'-'teafon  with,  and  endeavour  to  co:ivince  each  other,  upon  any  matter  ■ 
bothat  refpedls  t"heir  common  good,   yet,    in  point  of  practice,  the^ma- 
jority -of  opinions,   when  kuown,  forms  a  rule  for  the  v^hole,  and  to 
re  this  rule  every  good  citizen  practically  conformiS.    ■ 
'^ifi     Mr.  Burke,  as  if  he  knew  (for  every  concealed  penfioner  has' the 
'  opportunitv    of  knowing)  that  the  abufes  adl:ed  under  the   pt^efent 

•  fyftem,  are  tOQ,fl'agr3nt  to  be  palliated,  and  that  the  majority  of-opi- 
C^onions,  whenever  fuch  abufes  Ikould  be  m.ade  public,  would  be  for  a 

general  and  efFe6lual  reform,  has  endeavoured  to  preclude  the  event, 
by  flurdily  denying  the  right  of  a  ir.ajority  of  a  nation  to  aft  as  a 
whole.     Let  us  bellow  a  thought  upon  this  caic.  . 

•  -  When  any  matter  is  pro'pofed  as  a  fubjeil  for  confnltatlon,  it  ne- 
ceffarily  implies  fome   xnode  of  decifion.      Common   confeftt,  ;;rifincr 

*''-*from  abfolute  ncceffity,  has  placed  this  in  a  majority   of  opinions  ; 
^libecaufe  without  it  there  can  be  no   decifion,    and   conrequently  no 
•^i'djd^f.  ■    Tt  is   perhans  the    only   cafe   in    which    nrankin*d_  however 
■^fJ^rarious  ip  their  ideas./ upon 'other  matters,  can  confillently  be  unani- 
f^vtnous  ;    becaufe  it  is  a   mode   of  decifion  derived  from  the  primary 
original  right  of  every  individual  concerned  ;    tbaf  right  being  firfl 
individually  exercifed.  in  giving  an  opinion,  and  whethti  -that  opinion 
ihall  arrange  with  the  minority  or  the  majority,  is  ajubf«;quent  acci- 
dental  tliijig   thitt  neither  incrcafcsjior  diminiOies  the  individual, ori- 
ginal right  itfdL  .  Vxm  to  any  debate, ;]PnjiU ivy  ox  ij^i»:lliga^iu,   it 
VpL.  II.  Cijl 


298  P  A  I  N  E  '  s     W  O  R  K  S. 

is  not  fiippofcJ  to  be  known  on  which  fiJc  the  majority  of  opinions 
will  fall,  and  therefore  wliilii  this  mode  of  decifion  fecures  to  every 
one  the  right  of  giving  an  opinion,  it  admits  to  every  one  an  equal 
chance  in  the  ultimate  event. 

Among  the  matters  tliat  will  prefent  themfelves  to  the  confidera- 
tion  of  a  national  convention,  there  is  one,  vxlH.lIy  of  a  domeftic  na- 
ture, but  fo  marvelloufly  leaded  with  conful:on,  as  to  appear  at  hrft 
fight,  almoll  impolTible  to  be  reformed.  I  mean  the  condition  of 
what  is  called  aw. 

But,  if  we  examine  into  the  caufe  from  whence  this  confufion, 
now  fo  much  the  fubjeft  of  univerfal  complaint,  is  produced,  not 
only  tlie  remedy  Vv'ill  imniediately  prefent  itfelf,  but  with  it,  the  means 
of  preventing  th<e  like  cafe  hereafter. 

In  the  tirll  place,  the  confufion  has  generated  itfelf  from  the  abfur- 
dity  of  every  parliament  afTuming  to  be  eternal  in  power,  and  the 
laws  partake  in  a  iimilar  manner  of  this  afTumption.  They  have  no 
period  of  legal  or  natural  expiration  ;  and,  hovvcver  abfurd  In  princi- 
ple, or  inconfjftent  in  praclice,  many  of  them  Iiave  become,  they 
ftlll  are,  if  not  efpecially  repealed,  confidered  as  making  a  part  of  the 
general  mafs.  By  this  means  the  body  of  what  is  called  law,  is  fpread 
over  a  fpace  oi  fvocral  hundred  years,  comprehending  laws  obfolete, 
laws  repugnant,  laws  ridiculous,  and  every  other  kind  of  laws  forgot- 
ten or  remembered  ;  and  what  renders  the  cafe  {[ill  worfc  is,  that  the 
confufion  mukiplies  with  the  progrefs  of  time.* 

To  bring  this  misdiapcn  inonfter  into  form,  and  to  prevent  Its 
lapfing  again  into  a  wildernefs  ilate,  only  tu-o  things,  and  thofe  very 
fimple,  are  neceifary. 

The  full  is,  to  review  the  whole  mafs  of  laws,  and  to  bring  for- 
w  rd  fuch  only  as  are  worth  retaining,  and  let  all  the  relt  drop  ;  and 
to  give  to  trie  laws  fo  brought  forward  a  new  era,  commencing  from 
the  time  of  fuch  reform. 

Secondly,  that  at  the  expiration  of  ever)-  twenty-one  years  (or 
any  other  ftated  period"'  a  like  revievr  fhall  again  be  taken,  and  the 
laws,  found  proper  to  be  retained,  be  again  carried  forward,  com- 
mencing with  that  date,  and  the  ufelefs  laws  d?opt  and  difcontlnued. 

By  this  means  there  can  be   no  obfolete  laws,  and  fcarcely  fuch  a 

*  In  the  time  of  Henry  the  fourth,  a  hiv  ivas  pajfed,  mahlng  it  felony 
"  to  multiply  gold  orfilvcr,  or  to  male  ufe  of  the  craft  or  multiplication,^* 
ditid  this  law  remained  tivo  hundred  and  eighty-fi've  years  upon  thejlatutt 
hoks.     It  was  then  repealed  as  Ulng  ridiculous  and  Injurious. 


ADDRESS  TO  THE  ADDRESSERS.  299 

thing  as  laws  Handing  In  dire£l  or  equivocal  contradidion  to  each 
other,  and  every  pcrion  will  know  the  period  of  time  to  which  he  is  to 
look  back  for  all  the  laus  in  being. 

It  is  worth  remarking  that  vvhilft  every  other  branch  of  fJencc 
is  brought  within  fome  conmiodious  fyllem,  and  the  fludy  of  it  Am- 
plified by  eafy  methods,  the  lav/s  take  the  contrary  courfe,  and 
become  every  year  more  comphcated,  entangled,  confufcd,  and 
obfcure. 

Among  the  paragraphs  which  the  attorney-general  has  taken  from 
the  Rights  of  Man  J  and  put  into  his  information,  one  is,  that  where 
I  have  faid,  "  that  with  refpect  to  regular  law,  there  h  fcarcely  fuch 
a  il'ingJ* 

As  I  do  not  know  whether  the  attorney-general  means  to  fhew 
this  exprefiion  to  be  libellous,  becaufe  it  is  true,  or  becaufc  it  is 
FALSE,  I  fhail  make  no  other  reply  to  him  in  this  place,  than  by 
remarking,  that  if  almanac-makers  had  not  been  raoie  judicious  than 
law-makers,  the  ftudy  of  almanacs  would  by  this  time  have  become  as 
abftrufe  as  the  fludy  of  the  law,  and  we  fliould  hear  of  a  library  of 
almanacs  as  we  now  do  of  ftatutes  ,•  but  by  the  fimpie  operation  of 
letting  the  obfolete  matter  drop,  and  carrying  forward  that  only 
which  is  proper  to  be  retained,  all  that  is  necefiary  to  be  known,  is 
found  within  the  fpace  of  a  year,  and  laws  alfo  admit  of  being  kept 
within  fome  given  period. 

I  fiiall  here  dole  this  letter,  fo  far  as  it  refpefts  the  addrcfTers,  the 
proclamation,  and  the  profecution  ;  and  fhall  offer  a  few  obfcrvations 
to  the  fociety,  ftyling  itfelf  "  The  FRIE^  ds  of  The  People." 

That  the  fcience  of  government  is  beginiu'ng  to  be  better  under- 
ftood  than  in  former  times,  and  that  the  age  of  fidlion  and  political 
fuperftition,  and  of  craft  and  myftery  is  pafiing  away,  are  matters 
which  the  experience  of  every  day  proves  to  be  true,  as  well  in  Eng- 
land as  in  other  countries. 

As  therefore  it  is  impofiible  to  calculate  the  filent  progrefs  of  opi- 
nion, and  alfo  impofiible  to  govern  a  nation  after  it  has  changed  its 
habits  of  thinking,  by  the' craft  or  policy  that  it  was  governed  by  be- 
fore the  only  true  method  to  prevent  popular  difcontents  and  com- 
motions is,  to  throw,  by  every  fair  and  rational  argument,  all  the 
light  upoH  the  fubjee^  that  can  pofiibly  be  tin-own;  and  at  the  fame 
time,  to  ooen  tlie  means  of  collefting  the  general  fenfe  of  the  nation; 
and  this  cannot,  as  already  obferved,  be  done  by  any  plan  fo  efTc^f^u- 
ally  as  a  national   convention.       Here  individual  opinion  will   quiet 

itfelf  by  having  a  centre  to  reft  upon. 


3C0  PAINE's     WORKS. 

The  focicty  clieady  nieiitioneJ  (which  is  made  up  of  mei;  of  va- 
rious ck'fcriptio-.is,  but  chiefly  of  thcfc  called  Foxites)  appeal's  to  me,- 
either  to  have  taken  wronQ-  proiinds  f'om  want  of  iudr^ment,  or  to 
liave  acted  withi  cunnii,g  reierve.  it  h  now  aniufingthe  people  with, 
a  new  phraie,  naiiiely,  th"l:  of  '^  a  teinpcrale  and  moderate  reform,''" 
the  interpretation  c':  wiich  is^,  a  conibmauce  rj'  the  al'-ffs  as  long  cs  poj- 
Jihk.      If  <we  cannot  hold  all  let  us  held  f cm  . 

Who  are  thole  that  are  frirdstened  at  reforms  ?  Arc  tlie  Diibh'c 
afraid  that  their  taxes  fhoiild  be  leffencd  too  much?  Are  they  afraid 
that  linecure  places  and  peniions  ihould  be  abohslied  too  fall  ?  Are 
the  poor  afraid  tliat  their  condition  fhoiild  be  rendered  t(;o  comfort- 
able f  Is  the  worn-oKt  mechanic,  or  the  aged  and  decayed  tradefman, 
frightened  at  the  profpeft  of  receiving  ten  pounds  a  year  out  of  the 
iurolus  taxes?    is  the  foudier  fnVhtened  at  the   thou^his  of  his  dif- 

A  O  O 

charp-e,  and  three  fniih'nn-s  per  week  durin'r--  h'fe?  Is  tlic  failor  afraid 
that  prefs'Warrants  will  he  abolifhed?  Tlie  fociety  nuilakes  the  fears 
of  borough-mongers,  placemen  and  penfioners,  for  tlie  fears  of  the 
people ;  and  the  temperate  and  vwdcrate  reform  it  talks  of,  :s  calculated 
to  fuit  the  condition  of  the  former. 

Thole  words,  ''  temperate  and  moderate,"  are  w^ords  either  of  po- 
litical cowardice,  or  cf  cunning,  or  ieduclion. — A  thing,  m.oderately 
good,  is  not  io  good  as  it  ought  to  be.  Moderation  in  temper,  is  al- 
■vvaiys'a  virtu.e;  but  moderation  in  principle,  is  a  fpecies  of  vice.  But 
nrlio  'i's  to  be  the  judge  of  what  is  a  temperate  and  moderate  reform? 
The  fociety  is  tlje  reprefentative  of  nobody;  neither  can  the  unrc- 
|>refented  part  of  tlic  nation  commit  this  power  to  thofe  iw  parliament, 
in  whofe  election  tliev  had  no  choice;  and  therefore,  even  upon  the 
ground  tlie  fociety  iuis  taken,  recourfe  muil  be  Iiad  to  a  national 
convention. 

The  objciaon  which  Mr.  Fox  made  to  Mr.  Grey's  propofed  mo- 
tion for  a  parliamentary  reform  was,  that  it  contained  no  plan. — It 
certcunly  did  not.  But  the  plan  very  eafily  prefents  itfclfj  and  whilil 
it  is  fair  for  all  parties,  it  prevents  the  dang^^rs  that  might  otherwife 
c.iife  from  privjilc  or  pcpuJar  difcontent. 

TFIOMAS  PAINE. 


T   O 

L  O  R  D     O  N  S  L  O  \7, 

LORD  LIEUTENANT  OF  THE  COUNTY  OF  SURIIV  i. 

ON'    THE    SUBJECT    OF    THE    LATK    EXCELLENT 

PROCLx^MATiCNt 

OR,    THE 

CHAIR  M  A  N 

WHO  SHALL  PRESIDE  AT  THE  MEETING  TO 
BE  HELD  AT  EPSOM,  JUNE   lo. 


LoN-DON,  June    I7,   1792. 

HAVE  {ccn  in  the  public  newfpapers  the  following  advertifemcnt, 
to  wit — 

*'  To  the  nobility,  gentlemen,  clergy,  freeholders,  r.nd  other  inlia- 
*'  bitants  of  the  county  of  Suvry. 

*'  At  the  requifition  and  delire  of  I'-jveral  of  the  freehoiden;  of  the 
**  county,  I  am,  in  the  abfence  of  the  Sheriff,  to  defire  the  favour  of 
"  your  attendance,  at  a  meeting  to  be  held  at  Epfom,  on  Monda}- 
"  the  1 8th  inftant,  at  12  o'clock  at  noon,  to  coiifiderof  an  humble 
"  addrefs  to  his  majesty,  to  exprefs  our  grateful  approbation  of  Iris 
♦*  majesty's  paternal  and  well-timed  Jittendance  to  the  public  we!- 
*'  fare,  in  his  late  moil  gracious  proclamation  againft  the  eneiTiics  of 
"  our  happy  couilitution. 

(Signed)  *^  ONSLOW  CRANLEY/' 

Taking  it  for  granted,  that  the  aforjfaid  advertifement,  Cv;uaily  a^ 
obfcure  as  the  proclamation  to  which  it  refers,  has  neverthelefs  fomc 
meaning,  and  is  intended  to  effeil  fome  purpofe  ;  aod  as  profecution 
(whether  wifely  or  unwifely,  jultly  or  unj'udly)  is  already  commenced 
againil  a  work  entitled  RIGHTS  OF  MAN,  of  which  I  have  th: 
the  honour  and  happinefs  to  be  the  author  ;  I  feel  it  necciTary  to 
addrefs  this  letter  to  you,  and  to  requeft  that  it  may  be  read  publicly 
to  the  gentlemen  who  fliall  meet  at  Epfom  in  confequencc  of  the  ad- 
vertifement. 

The  work   now  under  profecution  is,  I  conceive,   the  fame  work 


Zoi  PAINE'  .s     W  O  R  K  S. 

which  is  intended  to  be  fuppreiTcd  hj  the  aforefaid  proclamation.— ~ 
Admitting  this  to  be  the  cafe,  the  gentlemen  of  the  county  of  Surry 
are  called  upon  by  foniehody  to  condemn  a  work,  and  they  are  at  the 
fame  time  fm-bidden  by  the  proclamation  to  know  wliat  that  work 
is ;  and  they  are  further  called  upon  to  give  their  aid  and  affiflance  to 
prevent  other  people  from  knowing  it  alfo. — It  is  therefore  neceffi'Ty 
that  the  author,  for  his  own  juftification,  as  well  as  to  prevent  the 
gentlemen  who  fhali  meet  from,  being  impofed  upon  by  mifreprefen- 
tation,  fhould  give  fome  outlines  of  the  principles  and  plans  which  that 
work  contains. 

The  work,  fir,  in  queftion  contains,  firft,  an  invelligation  of  gene- 
ral principles  of  government. 

It  alfo  diilinguifnes  government  into  two  clafles  or  fyftems,  the 
one  the  hereditaiy  fyftem — the  other  the  rcprefcntative  fyftcm  ;  and 
it  compares  thefe  two  fyftems  with  each  other. 

It  fhews,  that  what  is  called  hereditary  government  cannot  exitt  as 
a  matter  of  right ;  becaufe  hereditary  government  always  means  a 
government  yet  to  come  ;  and  the  cafe  always  is,  that  thofe  who  are 
to  hve  afterwards  have  always  the  fame  right  to  eftablifli  a  govern- 
ment for  themfelvco  as  the  people  who  had  lived  before  them. 

It  alfo  fnews  the  defe6l  to  which  hereditary  government  is  una- 
voidably fubjeft  :  That  it  muft,  from  the  nature  of  it,  throw  go- 
vernm.ent  into  the  hands  of  men  totally  unvrorthy  of  it  from  the  wan-t 
of  principle,  or  unfitted  for  it  from  want  of  capacity.  James  the 
Ild.  and  many  others  are  recorded  in  the  Engliih  hiftory,  as  proofs 
of  the  former  of  thofe  cafes,  and  inilances  are  to  be  found  almoft 
over  Europe,  to  prove  the  truth  of  the  'atter. 

It  then  fliews  tliat  the  reprefentative  fyftem  is  the  only  true  fyftem 
of  government ;  th?.t  it  is  ah^o  the  only  fyltem  under  which  the  liberties 
of  any  people  can  be  permanently  fecure  ;  and  furtherj  that  it  is  the 
only  one  that  can  continue  the  fame  equal  probability  at  all  times  of 
admitting  of  none  bat  men  properly  quahfied,  both  by  principles  and 
abilities,  into  government,  and  of  excluding  fuch  as  arc  otherwife. 

The  work  fhev/s  alfo,  by  plans  and  calculations  not  hitherto  denied 
nor   controverted,   n^t  even  by  the  profecution   that  is  commenced, 
that  the  taxes  now  exifting  may  be  reduced  at  leaft  fix  millions,  that 
taxes  may  be  entirely  taken  off  from  the  poor,  who  are  computed  at >) 
one  third  of  the  nation  ;  and  that  taxes  on  the  other  two  thirds  may 
bo  confiderably  reduced — that  the  aged  poor  may  be  comfortably  pro->, 
vided  for,  and  the  children  of  poor  families  properly  educated — that  -f 
fifteen  thoufand  foldiers,  and  the  fame  number  of  failors,  may  be  dK- 


LETTER  TO  LORD  ONSLOW.  303 

lowed  three  fhillings  per  week  during  life  out  of  the  furplus  taxes; 
and  alfo  that  a  proportionate  allowance  tnay  be  made  to  the  officers, 
and  the  pay  of  the  remaining  foldiers  and  lailors  be  incrcafed  ;  and 
that  it  is  better  to  apply  the  furplus  taxes  to  thofe  purpofes  than  to 
confume  them  upon  lazy  and  profligate  placemen  and  penfioners  ;  and 
that  the  revenue,  faid  to  be  twenty  thoufand  pounds  per  annum, 
raifed  by  a  tax  upon  coals,  and  given  to  the  duke  of  Richmond,  is 
a  grofs  impofirion  upon  all  the  people  of  London,  and  ought  to  be 
inilantly  abolifhcd. 

This,  iir,  IS  a  concTc  abn.ra(ft  of  the  principles  and  plans  contained 
in  the  work  ihat  is  now  profecuted,  and  for  the  fuppreilion  of  which  the 
proclamation  appears  to  be  intended  ;  but  as  it  is  impoffible  that  I  can 
in  the  compafs  of  a  letter,  bring  into  view  all  the  matters  contained 
in  the  work,  and  as  it  is  proper  that  the  gentlemen  who  may  compofe 
that  meetiiig  (hould  knov/  what  the  merits  or  demerits  of  it  are,  be- 
fore they  come  to  any  refolutions,  either  direftly  or  indireftly  relating 
thereto,  I  requeli  the  honour  of  prefenting  them  with  one  hundred 
copies  of  the  fecond  part  of  the  Rights  of  Man,  and  alfo  one  thou- 
fand copies  of  my  letter  to  Mr.  Dukdas,  which  I  have  directed  ta 
be  fent  to  Epfom  for  that  purpofe  ;  and  I  beg  the  favour  of  the  chair- 
man to  take  the  trouble  of  prefenting  them  to  the  gentlemen  who 
fhall  meet  on  that  occafion,  with  my  fmcere  wifhes  for  their  happi- 
nefs,   and  for  that  of  the  nation  in  general. 

Having  now  clofed  thus  much  of  the  fubje6l  of  ray  letter,  I  next 
come  to  fpeak  of  what  has  relation  to  me  ptrfoiially.  I  am  well 
aware  of  the  delicacy  that  attends  it,  but  the  purpofe  of  calling  the 
meeting  appears  to  me  fo  inconfiftent  with  that  juftice  that  is  always 
due  between  man  and  man,  that  it  is  proper  I  fhould  (as  well  on  ac- 
count of  the  gentlemen  who  may  meet,  as  on  my  own  account)  ex-'" 
plain  myfelf  fully  and  candidly  thereon. 

1  have  already  Informed  the  gentlemen,  that  a  profecution  is  com- 
menced ap'ainfi:  a  work  of  which  I  have  the  honour  and  hapoinefs  t(> 
be  the  author  ;  and  I  have  good  reasons  for  believing  that  the  procla^-^ 
matlon  which  the  gentlemen  are  called  to  confider,  and  to  prefent 
an  addrefs  upon,  is  ;  iirpofely  calculated  to  give  an  imprefTion  to  the 
jury  before  whom  that  matter  is  to  come.  In  fhort,  tliat  it  is  dif^at- 
ing  a  verdidl  by  proclamation  ;  and  I  confider  the  inftigators  of  the 
meeting  to  be  held  at  Epfom,  as  aiding  and  abetting  the  fameimpro^"^ 
per,  and,  in  my  opinion,  illegal  purpofe,  and  that  in  a  manner  very 
artfully  contrived,  as  I  fliail  now  fhcw. 

Had  a  meeting  been  called  of  the  freeholders  of  the  county  of 


:^e4  PAINE^s    WORKS. 

Midtilcfex,  the  gentlemen  who  had  compofed  that  meeting  would 
have  rendered  theinfelves  objectionable  as  perfons  to  ferve  on  a  jury 
before  whom  the  judicial  cafe  was  afterwards  to  come.  But  b}-  cal- 
ling a  meeting  out  of  the  county  of  Middlefex,  that  matter  is  artfully 
"avoided,  and  the  gentlemen  of  Suriy  are  fummoned,  as  if  it  were 
intended  t43er.ebY  to  give  a  tone  to  the  fort  of  verdicS:  which  the  infti- 
,gators  ©f  the  meeting  no  doubt  vinTii  fnould  be  broue^ii  in,  and  lo 
igive  countenance  to  the  jury  in  fo  doing. 

i  am,   iir, 

With  n-iiich  refped  to  the 

Gentlemen  v.-ho  fliall  meet, 
Their  and  yoiir  obedient  hnmble  fervant, 

THOMAS  PAINE, 


II. 

TO    THE  SAME: 

SIPv,  London,  June  2T,    1792. 

HEN  I  vrrote  you  the  letter  which  Mr.  HorneTooke  did 
m.e  the  favour  to  prefent  to  you,  as  chairm:an  of  the  meeting  held  at 
lipfom,  Monday,  June  :9,  it  was  not  with  much  expectation  that 
you  would  do  miC  the  juilice  of  permitting,  or  recommending  it  to 
be  publicly  read.  I  am  well  aware  that  the  fignature  of  Thomas 
"Paine  has  fomething  in  it  dreadful  to  finecure  placemen  and  pen- 
fioners  ;  and  when  you,  on  feeing  the  letter  opened,  informed  the 
meeting  that  it  was  figned  Thomas  Paine,  and  added,  in  a  note  of 
exclamation,  "  the  com.mon  cnemiy  of  us  ail,"  you  fpoke  one  of  the 
greateil  truths  you  ever  uttered,  ifyouconline  the  exprelTion  to  men 
of  the  fame  defcription  with  yourfelf ;  m.en  living  in  indolence  and 
luxury,  on  the  fpoil  and  labours  of  the  public. 

The  letter  has  fince  appeared  in  the  Argu?,  and  probably  in  other 
papers-  It  will  juftify  itfelf;  but  if  any  thing  on  that  account  hath 
been  wanting,  your  own  condutl  at  the  meeting  would  have  fupplied 
tlic  omifTion.  You  there  fuiiiciently  proved  that  I  was  nor  miilaken 
in  fuppofing  that  the  meeting  Vvas  called  to  give  an  indireft  aid  to 
the  profecution  commenced  againft  a  work,  the  reputation  of  which 
will  long  out-live  the  m.emory  of  the  penfioner  I  am  v.-rit:ng  to. 

When,  m.eetiugs,  fn*,    are  called  by  the  partizans  of  the  court,  Ui 


LETTER  TO  LOPvD  ONSLOW.  305 

preclude  the  nation  the  right  of  inveftigating  fyftems  and  principles 
of  governnnent,  andofexpoling  errors  and  defetls,  under  the  pietence 
of  profec'.iting  any  individual — it  funiinics  an  additional  motive  for 
maintaining  facred  tha^.  violated  right. 

The  princinlcs  and  arguments  contained  in  the  work  in  queftion, 
RIGHTS  OF  MAN,  'have  Hood,  and  they  now  ftand,  and  I  be- 
lieve ever  will  Hand,  unrefuted.  They  are  Rated  in  a  fair  and  open 
manner  to  ilie  world,  and  they  have  already  received  the  public  apro- 
bation  of  a  greater  number  of  men,  of  the  befl:  of  charafters,  of  every 
denomination  of  religion,  and  of  every  rank  in  Hfe  (placemen  and 
penfioners  excepted),  than  all  the  juries  that  fliall  meet  in  England, 
for  ten  years  to  come,  will  amount  to ;  and  I  have  moreover  good 
reafons  for  believing  that  the  approvers  of  that  work,  as  well  private 
as  public,  are  already  more  numerous  than  all  the  prefent  eledors 
throughout  the  nation. 

Not  lefs  than  forty  pamphlets,  intended  as  anfwers  thereto,  have 
appeared,  and  as  fuddenly  difappeared :  Scarcely  are  the  titles  of  any 
of  them  remembered,  notwithflanding  their  endeavours  have  been  aided 
by  all  the  daily  abufe  which  t'  e  court  and  miniillerial  newfpapers,  for 
almoft  a  year  and  a  half,  could  beftow,  both  upon  the  work  and  the 
author;  and  now  that  every  attempt  to  refute,  and  every  abufe  has 
failed,  the  invention  of  caUing  the  work  a  libel  has  been  hit  upon, 
and  the  difcomfited  party  has  punllanimoully  retreated  to  profecution 
and  a  jury,  and  obfcuve  addrefles. 

As  I  well  know  that  a  long  letter  from  me  will  not  be  agreeable 
to  you,  I  will  relieve  your  uneafir.crj  by  making  it  as  fliort  as  I  con- 
veniently can  ;  and  will  conclude  it  with  taking  up  the  fubjed  at  that 
part  where  Mr.-  Hornu  Tookz  was  interrupted  from  going  on  when 
at  the  meeting. 

That  gentleman  was  Rating,  that  the  fituation  you  Rood  in  ren- 
dered it  Improper  for  you  to  appear  a^iv^Iy  in  a  fccne  in  v/hich  your 
private  intercR  was  too  vlOble;  that  you  were  a  bedchamber  lord  at 
a  thoufand  a  year,  and  a  penRoner  at  three  thoufand  pounds  a  year 
more — and  here  he  was  Ropped  by  the  little,  but  noify  circle  you  had 
colleded  round.  Permit  me  then,  fir,  to  add  an  explanation  t^o  l^iii 
words,  for  the  benefit  of  your  neighbours,  and  with  which,  and  a  few 
ebfervations,  I  fhall  clofe  my  letter. 

When  it  was  reported  in  tlie  Englifh  newfpapers,  foiye  fliort  time 
fmce,  that  the  emprefs  of  llauia  had  given  to  one  of  her  minions  a 
large  trad  of  country,  and  fcveral  thomands  of  peafants  as  property, 
it  very  juRly  provoked  indignation  and  abhorrence  in  thofe  who  heard 

V©L.  II  R  1- 


3o6  P  A  I  N  E  '  s     W  O  ?.  K  S. 

ic.  But  if  we  compare  the  mode  prisftifed  in  England,  with  tliat 
which  appears  to  us  fo  abhorrent  in  Ruffia,  it  will  be  found  to  amount 
to  very  near  the  fame  thing; — for  example — 

As  the  whole  of  the  revenue  in  England  is  drawn  by  taxes  from  the 
pockets  of  the  people,  thofe  things  called  gifts  and  grants-  (of  which 
kind  are  all  penhons  and  finecure  places)  are  paid  out  of  that  ftock. 
The  difference,  thereh^re,  between  the  two  modes  is,.that  in  England 
the  money  is  colleaed  by  the  government,  and  then  given  to  the  pen- 
honer,  and  in  Ruffia  he  is  left  to  collc6l  it  for  himfelf.  The  fmalleft 
fum  which  the  pcoreft  family  in  a  county  fo  near  London  as  Surry, 
can  be  fuppofed  to  pay' ainui ally  of  taxes,  isnotlefs  than  five  pounds; 
and  as  your  finecure  of  one  thoufand,  and  penfion  of  three  thoufand 
per  annum,  are  made  up  of  taxes  paid  by  eight  hundred  fuch  poor  fa- 
milies, it  comes  to  the  fame  thing  as  if  the  eight  hundred  families  had 
been  oiven  to  you,  as  in  Ruffia,  and  you  had  coUeded  the  money  on 
vour  account.  Were  you  to  fay  tliat  you  are  not  quartered  particu- 
larly on  the  people  of  Surry,  but  on  the  nation  at  large,  the  objec- 
tion would  amount  to  nothing;  for  as  there  are  more  penfioners  than 
counties,  every  one  may  Ke  conlidered  as  quartered  on  that  in  which 

he  lives. 

What  horcur  or  happinefa  you  can  derive  from  being  the  pri  mci- 
PAL  PAUP  ZR  of  the  neighliourhood,  and  occafioning  a  greater  expencc 
than  the  poor,  the  aged,  and  the  inlirm,  for  ten  miles  round  you,  I 
leave  you  to  eniov.  At  the  fame  time  I  can  fee  that  it  is  no  wonder 
vou  fliould  be  ftrenuous  in  fuppreff.ng  a  book  whicli  fln'kes  at  the 
rcot  of  thofe  abuf'js.  No  v^'ondcr  that  you  fliould  be  againft  reform?, 
a'Tainil  the  freedom  of  the  prefs,  and  the  right  of  inveiligation.  To 
you,  and  to  others  of  your  defcription,  thefea/e  dreadful  thing?;  but 
vou  fhouldalfo  confider,  that  the  motives  which  prompt  you  to  a^f, 
ought,  by  refl-6lioti,  to  compel  you  to  htfihnt. 

Havinf^  now  returned  ycur  compliment,  and  fufliciently  tired  your 
patience,  I  take  my  leave  of  you  with  mentioning,  that  if  you  had 
R6t  prevented  my  former  letter  from  being  read  at  the  meeting,  you 
would  not  have  had  the  trouble  of  reading  this;  and  alfo  with  requeil- 
ing,  that  the  next  time  you  call  me  "«  common  enemyy'  you  would 
add,   *'  of  nsfiiiccuye  plactmen  and  penfioners  J''' 

I  am,    Sir, 


*^c.    ^cc.    c<c. 


THOMAS   PAINE 


DISSERTATION 


O  N 


FIRST-PRINCIPLES  OF  GOVERNMENT. 


X  HERE  is  no  fabjeft  more  interefling  to  ev^iy  man  than  the 
fubjecfl  of  government.  His  fccurity,  be  he  rich  or  poor,  and,  in  a 
great  raeafure,  his  profperity,  is  connected  therewith  ;  it  is  therefore 
his  intereil  as  well  as  lu's  duty  to  make  himfclf  acquainted  with  its 
principles,   and  what  the  practice  ought  to  be. 

Every    art  and  fcience,  however  imperfeClly  known    at    firft,  has 
been  fliidied,  improved,  and  brought  to  what  we  call  perfeftion,  by 
the  progreflive  labours  of  fucceediag  generations  ;   but  the  fcience  of 
government   has  flood  ftill.      No  improvement  has  been  made  in  the 
principle,  and  fcarcely  any  in  the  f  raftice,  till  the  American  revolution 
began.   In  all  the  countries   of  Europe  (except  in  France)  the    fame 
forms  and  fyllems  that  v/ere  ereiled  in  the  remote  ages  of  ignorance 
ilill  continue,  and  their  antiquity  is  put  in  the  place  of  principle  ;  it 
is  forbidden  to  inveftigate  their  origin  or  by   what   right  they  exift. 
If  it  be  allved  how  has  this  happened,   the  anfvver   is  eafy;  they  are 
eiiablilhed  on  a  principle  that  is  falfe,  and  they  employ  their  power 
to  prevent  detection. 

Notwithftanding  tlie  mydery  with  which  the  fcience  of  govern- 
ment has  been  enveloped,  for  the  purpofj  of  cnflaving,  plundering 
and  impofing  upon  mankind,  it  is  of  all  things  the  leafl:  myfterious 
and  the  mofl  eufy  to  be  underftood.  The  meaneft  capacity  can- 
not be  at  a  lofs,  if  it  begins  its  enquiries  at  the  right  point.  Every 
art  and  fcience  has  fome  point,  or  alphabet,  at  which  the  ftudy  of 
that  art  or  fcience  begins,  and  by  ihe  affillance  of  which  the  pro- 
grefs  is  facilitated.  The  fame  method  ought  to  be  obferved  with  re- 
fpecl  to  the  fcience  of  goverment. 

Inftead  then  of  embarraffiag  the  fubjed  in  the  outfet  with  the  nu- 
merous fubdivilions,  uiider  which  different  forms  of  government  have 
been  clafTed,  fuch  as  ariftocracy,  democracy,  oligarcliy,  monarchy, 
&c.  the  better  method  will  be  to  begin  with  what  may  be  called  prf- 
maiy  diviiions,  or  thofe  undei"' which  all  the  feveral  fubdivi/ions  will 
be  comprehendtd. 


D 


08  P  A  r  N  E  '  s    W  O  R  K  S= 


The  primary  divifions  are  but  two. 

Firfl,  government  by  ele-xlrl-ion  and  reprcfentation. 

Secondly,  government  by  hereditary  fucceflion. 

Ail  the  feveral  forms  and  iy (terns  of  government,  however  nume- 
rous ordivediied,  clafs  themftlves  under  one  or  other  of  thofe  pTi- 
mary  divifions  ;  for  either  ihey  are  on  the  fyilem  of  reprefentation, 
or  on  that  of  hereditary  rac  edion.  As  to  that  equivocal  thing  cal- 
led mixed  government,  fuch  as  the  late  government  of  Holhmd,  and 
the  preient  gover  ^rnent  of  England,  it  does  not  make  an  exception 
to  the  general  rule,  becaufe  the  parts  feparately  confidered  are  either 
reprefentative  or  hereditar)^ 

Beginning  then  our  enquiries  at  this  point,  we  have  firft  to  exa- 
'Tnine  into  the  nature  of  thofe  two  primary  divifions.  If  they  arc 
equally  right  in  principle,  it  is  mere  matter  of  opinion  x^hich  we  pre- 
fer. If  the  one  be  demonftratively  better  than  the  other,  that  dif- 
ference directs  our  choice;,  but  if  one  of  them  Ihould  be  fo  abfolutely 
falfe  as  not  to  i»ave  a  right  to  exiftence,  ihe  matter  fettles  itfelf  at 
once;  becaufe  a  negative  proved  on  one  thing,  where  two  only  arc 
offered,  and  one  muft  be  accepted,  amounts  to  an  affirmative  on  the 
other. 

The  revolutions  that  are  now  fpreading  themfelves  in  the  world 
have  their  origin  in  this  ftate  of  the  cafe,  and  the  pixfcnt  war  is  a 
conflitk  between  the  reprefentative  fyilem,  found  d  on  the  rights  of 
the  people,  and  the  hereditary  fyftem,  founded  in  ufurpation.  As 
to  what  are  called  monarchy,  royalty,  and  ariftocracy,  they  do  not, 
either  as  things  or  as  term.s,  fnfiiciendy  defcribe  the  hereditary  fyftem  ; 
thev  are  but  fecondary  things  or  figns  of  the  hereditary  fyftem,  and 
which  fall  of  themfelves  if  that  iyftem  has  not  a  right  to  exilt.  Were 
there  no  fuch  term.s  as  monarchy,  royalty,  and  ariftocracy,  or  were 
other  terms  fubftituted  in  their  place,  the  hereditary  fyftem,  if  it  con- 
tinued, would  not  be  altered  thereby.  It  would  be  the  fame  fyftem 
under  any  other  titulary  name  as  it  is  now. 

The  character  therefore  of  the  revolutions  of  tlie  prefent  day  dif- 
tinguiilies  itfelf  moft  definitively  by  grounding  itfelf  on  the  fyftem  of 
reprefentative  government,  in  oppolition  to  the  hereditary.  No  other 
diftin6lion  reaches  the  whole  of  the  principle. 

Having  thus  opened  the  cafe  generally,  I  proceed,  in  the  firft 
place,  to  examine  the  hereditary  fyftem,  becaufe  it  has  the  priority 
in  po'nt  of  time.  The  reprefentative  fyftem  is  the  invention  of  the 
modern  world;  and  that  no  doubt  may  arife  as  to  my  own  opinion, 
I  declare  It  before -hand,  which  is,  tiat  thete  is  not  a  problem  in  Euclid 


DISSERTATION  ON  GOVERNMENT.  309 

more  mechanically  true,  than  that  hereditary  go'vernmenl  has  vot  a  rlgi.H  to 
ex'iji.  When  therefore  nve  lake  from  any  man  the  excrcife  oj  hereditary 
power.,  we  take  away  that  which  he  never  had  the  right  to  pojff,  and 
which  no  law  or  cujiom  coiddy  or  ever  can,  give  him  a  title  to. 

The  arguments  that  have  hitherto  been  employed  againft  the  he- 
reditary fyftem  have  been  chiefly  founded  upon  the  abiurdity  of  it, 
and  its  incompetency  to  the  purpofe  of  good  government.  Nothing 
can  prefent  to  our  judgment,  or  to  our  imagination,  a  figure  of 
greater  abfurdity  than  that  of  feeing  the  government  of  a  nation  fall, 
as  it  frequently  does,  into  the  hands  of  a  lad  neceffarily  deftitute  of 
experience,  and  often  little  better  tlian  a  fool.  It  is  an  infult  to 
every  man  of  years,  of  chara6ler,  and  of  tslenrs,  in  a  country.  The 
moment  we  begin  to  reafon  upon  the  hereditary  fyflcm,  it  falls  into 
derifion;  let  but  a  fingle  idea  begin,  and  a  thoufand  will  foon  follow. 
Infignilicance,  imbecility,  childhood,  dotacre,  want  of  moral  charac- 
ter; in  fine,  every  defeft,  ferious  or  laughable,  unite  to  hold  up  the 
hereditary  fyftem  as  a  figure  of  ridicule.  Leaving  however  the  ridi- 
culoufnefs  of  the  thing  to  the  reflexions  of  the  reader,  I  proceed  to 
the  more  important  part  of  the  queflion,  namely,  v^^hether  fuch  a 
fyftem  has  a  right  to  exift  ? 

To  be  fatisfijed  of  the  right  of  a  thing  to  exift,  we  m.uft  be  fatis- 
fied  that  it  had  a  right  to  begin.  If  it  had  not  a  right  to  begin,  it 
has  not  a  right  to  continue.  By  what  right  then  did  the  hereditary 
fyftem  begin  ?  Let  a  man  but  ailc  himfelf  this  queftion,  and  he  will 
find  that  he  cannot  fatisfy  himfelf  with  an  anfv/er. 

The  right  which  any  man,  or  any  family  had  to  'et  himfelf  up 
at  firft  to  govern  a  nation,  and  to  eftablifli  itfelf  hereditarily,  was  no 
other  than  the  right  which  Robefpierre  had  to  do  the  lame  thing  in 
France.  If  he  had  none,  they  had  none.  If  they  had  any,  he  had 
as  much  ;  for  it  is  impofiible  to  difcover  fuperiority  of  right  m  any 
family,  by  virtue  of  which  hereditary  government  could  begin.  The 
Capets,  the  Guelphs,  the  Robefpierres,  the  Marats,  are  all  on  the 
fame  ftanding  as  to  the  queftion  of  right.      It  belongs  exclufively   tQ 

none. 

It  is  one  ftep  towards  liberty,  to  perceive  that  hereditary  go- 
vernment could  not  begin  as  an  exclufive  right  in  any  family.  The 
rext  point  will  be,  whether,  having  once  began,  it  could  grow  into 
a  right  by  the  influence  of  time  ? 

This  would  be  fuppofing  an  abfurdity  ;  for  cilli er  it  is  putting 
time  in  the  place  of  principle,  or  making  it  fuptrior  to  principle  ; 
whereas  no  time  has  more  connexion  v/ith,  or  influence  upon    prin- 


3IO  PAINE^s     WORKS. 

cipie,  than  principle  has  upon  time.  The  wrong  wliich  began  z 
thoufand  years  ago,  is  as  much  i  wrong  as  if  it  began  to-day  ;  and  the 
right  which  originates  to-day,  is  as  much  a  rie^ht  as  if  it  had  the 
fahdiion  of  a  thoufand  years.  Time  with  reipc6t  to  principles  is 
an  eternal  NOW ;  it  has  no  operation  upon  thcra  :  it  chatiges  no- 
thing of  their  nature  and  qualities.  But  what  have  we  to  do  with  a 
^thouiand  years.  Our  life-time  is  but  a  fhort  portion  of  that  period, 
and  'i£  we  find  the  wrong  in  exillence  as  foon  as  we  begin  to  live,  that 
is  the  ]X)int  of  time  at  which  it  begins  to  us  ;  and  our  right  to  refiil 
it,  is  the  fame  as  if  it  had  never  exiiled  before. 

As  hereditary  government  could  not  begin  as  a  natural  right  in 
any  family,  nor  derive  after  its  commencement  any  right  from  time, 
we  have  only  to  exam.ine  whether  there  exiil  in  a  nation  a  right  to 
fet  it  up  and  eftabhfli  it  by  what  is  cailed  law,  a':  has  been  done  in  Eng- 
land ?  I  anfwer  NO  ;  and  that  any  law  or  any  conftitution  made 
for  that  purpofc  is  an  a6l  of  treai'on  againil  the  rights  of  every  mi- 
nor in  the  nation,  at  the  time  it  is  m.ade,  and  againft  the  rights  of  all 
fucceeding  generations.  1  fnali  fpeak  upon  eacli  of  thofe  cafes.  Firft, 
of  the  minor,  at  the  time  fuch  law  is  made.  Secondly,  of  the  ge- 
nerations that  are  to  follow. 

A  nation  in  a  colleftive  fenfe,  comprehends  all  the  individuals  of 
whatever  age,  fromjuil  born  to  juft  dying.  Of  thefe,  one  part  will 
be  minors,  and  the  other  aged.  The  average  of  life  is  not  exadlly 
the  fame  in  every  chmate  and  country,  but  in  general  the  minority 
in  years  are  the  majority  in  numbers,  that  is,  the  number  of  per- 
fons  under  twenty-one  years,  is  greater  than  the  number  of  perfons 
above  that  age.  This  difference  in  number  is  not  iiecelTary  to  the 
eilabiifhment  of  the  principle  I  mean  to  lav  down,  but  it  ferves  to 
fhew  thejuftice  of  it  more  flrongly.  The  principle  would  be  equally 
good,  if  the  majority  in   years  were  alfo  the  majority  in  numbers. 

The  rights  of  minors  are  as  facred  as  the  rights  of  the  aged.  The 
difference  is  altogether  in  the  different  ages  of  the  two  parties,  and 
nothing  in  the  nature  of  the  rights  ;  the  rights  are  the  fame  rights  ; 
and  are  to  be  preferved  inviolate  for  the  inheritance  of  the  minors 
when  they  (haH  come  of  age.  During  the  minority  of  minors  their 
rights  are  under  the  facred  guardianfliip  of  the  aged.  The  minor 
cannot  furrender  them ;  the  guardian  cannot  difpoffefs  him  ;  confe- 
quently,  the  aged  part  of  a  n at i-im,  who  are  the  lawmakers  for  the 
f.me  leJTjg,  and  who,  in  the  march  of  life,  are  but  a  few  years  a-head 
of  thofe  who  are  yet  minors,  and  to  whom  they  muft  fhortly  give 
place,  have  not,  and  caimot  have  the  right  to  make  a  law  to  fet  up 


DISSERTATION  ON  GOVERNMENT.  311 

snd  eftablifn  hereditary  government,  or,  to  fpeak  more  diftln6:ly,  an 
Ijereditr.ry  fuccefjlon  of  govern -rs  ;  becaufe  it  is  an  attempt  to  deprive 
every  minor  in  the  nation,  at  the  time  x"iich  a  law  is  made,  of  his  in- 
heritance of  rights  when  he  fhall  come  of  age,  and  to  fubjugate  him 
to  a  fyftem  of  government,  to  which,  durii.g  his  minority_,  he  could 
neither  confent  nor  objeft. 

If  a  perfon,  who  is  a  minor  at  the  time  fuch  a  law  is  propofed, 
had  happened  to  have  been  born  a  fcv\-  years  fooner,  fo  as  to  be  of 
the  age  of  twjnty-one  years  at  the  time  of  propofing  it,  his  right  to 
have  objected  againd  it,  to  haveexpofed  the  injuflice  and  tyrannical 
principles  of  it,  and  to  have  voted  againft  it,  will  be  admitted  on  all 
fides.  If,  therefore,  the  law  operates  to  prevent  his  excrcihng  the 
fame  rights  after  he  comes  of  age  as  he  would  have  had  a  right  to  ex- 
ercife  had  he  been  of  age  at  the  tftne,  it  is,  UKdeniably,  a  law  to  take 
away  and  annul  the  rights  of  every  perfon  in  the  nation  who  fnall  be 
a  minor  at  the  time  of  making  fuch  a  law,  and  confcquently  the 
right  to  make  it  cannot  ex  ill. 

I  come  now  to  fpeak  of  government  by  hereditary  fucccfiion  as  It 
applies  to  facceeding  generations ;  and  to  fliev/  that  in  this  cafe,  as 
in  the  cafe  of  minors,  there  does  not  exifl  in  a  nation  a  right  to  fet 
it  up. 

A  nation,  though  continually  exifting,  is  continually  in  a  ftate  of 
renewal  and  fucceiTion.  It  is  never  flationary.  Every  day  produces 
new  births,  carries  minors  forward  to  maturity,  and  old  perfons 
From  the  ftage.  In  this  ever-running  flood  of  generations  there  is 
no  part  fuperior  in  authority  to  another.  Gould  we  conceive  an 
idea  of  fuperiority  in  any,  at  what  point  of  time,  or  in  what  cen- 
tury of  the  world,  are  we  to  fix  it  ?  To  what  caufe  are  we  to  afcrlbe 
it  ?  By  v/hat  evidence  are  we  to  prove  it  I  By  what  criterion  are  we 
to  knov/  it  ?  A  fmgle  reflexion  will  teach  us  that  our  anceftors,  like 
onrfclves,  were  but  tenants  for  life  in  the  great  freehold  of  rights. 
The  fee-abfolute  wasr.ot  in  them,  it  is  not  in  us,  it  belongs  to  the 
whole  family  of  man,  through  all  ages.  If  we  think  otherwife  than 
ihis,  we  think  either  as  fiaves  or  as  tyrants.  As  fiaves,  if  we  tlifnk 
that  any  former  generation  had  a  right  to  bind  us  ;  as  tyrants,  H 
we  think  that  we  have  authority  to  bind  the  generations  that  are  to 
follow. 

It  may  not  be  inapplicable  to  the  fubjed,  to  endeavour  to  define 
\\hat  is  to  be  undeiftood  by  a  generation  in  the  fenfe  of  ihc  word  as 
here  ufed. 

As  a  natural  term  its  meaning   is   fuflicieRtly  clear.     The  father, 


312  PAINE's     Vv^ORKS. 

the  fon,  tb.e  grandfon,  al-e  fo  many  dlfiln^l  g^enerat'ons.  But  when 
we  fpeak  of  a  generation  as  defcribin'g  the  perfons  in  whom  legal 
authority  refides,  as  diflindt  from  another  generation  of  the  fame 
defcription  who  are  to  fucceed  them,  it  comprehends  all  thofe  who  are 
above  the  age  of  twenty -one  years,  at  the  time  we  count  from  ;  and 
agenerationof  this  kind  willcontinue  in  jiuthority  between  fourteen  and 
twenty-one  years,  that  is,  until  the  number  of  minors,  who  fhall  have 
arrived  at  age,  fiiall  be  greater  than  the  number  of  perfons  i^maining 
of  the  former  ftock. 

For  exr.aiple,  if  France  at  this  or  any  other  moment,  contain  twen- 
ty-four millions  of  fouls,  twelve  millions  v/ill  be  m.ales,  and  twelve  fe- 
males. Of  tlie  twelve  millions  of  males,  {ix  millions  will  be  of  the 
age  of  twenty-one  years,  and  fix  will  be  under,  and  the  authority  to 
govern  will  refide  in  the  firft  fix.  But  every  day  will  make  fome  al- 
teration, and  in  twenty-one  years  every  one  of  thofe  minors  who 
furvive  will  have  arrived  at  age,  and  the  greater  part  of  the  lormer 
ilock  will  begone  ;  the  majority  of  perfons  then  living,  in  whom  the 
legal  authority  rcfidcs,  will  be  compofed  of  thofe  who,  twenty-one 
years  before,  had  no  legal  exigence.  Thole  will  be  fathers  and 
grandfathers  in  their  turn,  and  in  the  next  twenty-one  years,  (or 
lefs)  another  race  of  minors,  arrived  at  age,  will  fucceed  them,  and 
fo  on. 

As  this  is  ever  the  cafe,  and  as  every  generation  is  equal  in  righis 
to  another,  it  confcquently  follows,  that  there  cannot  be  a  right  in 
any  to  ellablilli  gowrnment  by  hereditary  fuceeflion,  becaufe  it 
would  be  fnppoling  itfelf  poffefTed  of  a  right  fuperior  to  the  reft, 
namely,  that  of  commanding  by  its  own  authority  hov/  the  world 
fhall  be  hereafter  governed,  and  who  lliall  govern  it.  Every  age 
and  generation  is  and  muil  be  (as  a  matter  of  right)  as  free  to  a6l  for 
itfelf  in  all  cafes,  as  the  age  and  generation  that  preceded  it.  The 
vanity  and  prefumption  of  governing  beyond  the  grave  is  the  moil 
ridiculous  and  infolent  of  all  tyrannies.  Man  has  no  property  in  man, 
neither  has  one  generation  a  property  in  the  generations  that  are  t« 
fallow. 

In  the  firft  part  oj[  R'lghls  of  Man  1  have  fpoken  of  government 
by  hereditary  fucceffion  ;  and  I  will  lure  cioj-'e  the  fubjcA  with  an 
extract  from  that  work,  v/hich  ftatcs  i:  under  the  two  following 
heacb. 

"  Firft,  of  the  right  of  any  family  to  eftablifh  itfelf  with  LcrcJi- 
tiuy  power. 


DISSERTATION    ON    GOVERNMENT.        3^3' 

"  Secondly,  of  the  right    of  a  nation  to  tihibh"fli  a  particular  fa- 
mily. 

"  With  refpea  to  the  firfl;  of  thofe  heads,    that  of  a  family  ellab- 
lifhing  iifclf  with  hereditary  powers  on  its  own  authority,  independ- 
ent of  the  nation,   all  men  will  concur  in  calling  it  defpotifm,   and 
it  would  be  trefpaifing  on  their  underilanding  to  attempt  to  prove  it. 
«   But  the  fecond  head,  that  of  a  nation,   that  is,  of  a  generation 
for  the  time  being,    cilabhTning  a  particular  family   with  hereditary 
powers,  it  does  not  prefent  itfclf  as  defpotifm  on  the  firil  vefie6tioa  ; 
but  if  men  will  permit  a  fecond  refieccion  to  take  place,  and  carry 
that  refledlion  forward,    even  but  one   remove  out  oi  their  own   per- 
fons  to  that  of  their  offspring,  they  will  then  fee,  that  hereditary  fuc- 
cuffion  becomes  the  fame  defpotifm  to  others,  which  the  firil  perfons 
reprobated  for  tliemfelves.      It   operates  to  preclude  the  confent   of 
the  fucceeding  generation,   and    the  prechifion  of  confeht  is  defpo- 
tifm. 

"  In  order  to  fee  this  matter  more  cleaily,  let  us  confider  the  ge- 
neration which  undertakes  to  eftablifn  a  family  with  hereditary 
powers,    feparately  from,  the  generations  which  are  to  follow. 

"  The  generation  which  firfl  fele6ts  a  perfon  and  puts  him  at  the 
kead  of  its  government,  either  with  the  title  of  king,  or  any  other 
nominal  diilindlion,  a(5ts  its  own  choice,  as  a  free  agent  for  itfelf,  be 
that  choice  wife  or  foolifli.  The  perfon  fo  fet  up  is  not  hered'.tary, 
but  fele<fled  and  appointed ;  and  the  generation  v/hich  fets  him  up 
does  not  live  under  an  hereditary  government,  but  under  a  govern- 
ment of  its  own  choice.  Were  the  perfon  fo  fet  up,  and  the  genera- 
tion who  fets  him  up,  to  live  for  ever,  it  never  could  become 
hereditary  fucceffion,  and  of  confcquence*  hereditary  fuccelTioa 
could  only  follow  on  the  death  of  the  firfl  parties. 

**  As  therefore  hereditary  fucceffion  is  out  of  the  queflion  with 
refpe6l  to  the  firfl  generation,  we  have  next  to  confider  the  charac- 
ter in  which  that  generation  afts  towards  the  com.mencing  gene:a- 
tion,    and  to  all  fucceeding  ones. 

**  It  affumes  a  charafter  to  which  it  has  neither  ricfht  nor  title  ;  for 
it  changes  itfelf  from  a  legiflator  to  a  teflator,  and  affefts  to  make  a 
will  and  teflament  which  is  to  have  operation,  after  the  demife  of  the 
makers,  to  bequeath  the  governm.ent ;  and  it  not  only  attempts  to 
bequeath,  but  to  eflablilh  on  the  fucceeding  generation  a  new  and 
different  form  of  government  under  which  itfelf  lived.  Itfelf,  as 
already  obfcrved,  lived  r.ot  under  an  hereditary  government,  but  uii- 
VoL.  IT.  Ss 


314  P  A  I  N  E  '  s    W  O  R  K  S. 

der  a  government  of  its  own  choice  ;  and  now  it  attempt?,  by  v'iifuj 
of  a  wul  and  ceftament,  which  it  has  not  authority  to  make,  to  take 
from  the  com.mencing  generation,  and  from  ail  future  onec,  the 
right  and  free  agency  by  which  itfelf  aded. 

"  In  whatever  h'glvt  hereditary  fuccefTion,  as  growing  out  of  the 
will  and  teilament  of  fome  former  generation,  prefents  itfcJf,  it  is  both 
criminal  and  ablinJ.  A  cannot  make  a  will  to  take  from  B  the  pro- 
perty of  B,  and  give  it  to  C  ;  yet  this  is  the  manner  in  which  what 
IS  called  hereditary  fucceffion  bylaw  operates.  A  certain  generation 
makes  a  will,  under  the  form  of  ^  law,  to  take  away  tlie  rights  ol 
the  commencing  generation,  and  of  all  futnre  generations,  and  con- 
vey thofe  rights  to  a  third  perfon,  who  afterwards  comes  forward, 
arid  affum.es  the  government  in  confeqiience  of  llint  illicit  conveyance." 

The  hiftory  of  the  Englilli  parliament  furniflics  an  example  of  thi& 
kind  ;  and  whicli  m.erits  to  be  recorded,  as  being  the  greatell  in- 
ilancc  of  legillative  ignorance  and  want  of  principle  that  is  to  be 
found  in  the  liiflory  of  any  country.      The  cafe  is  as  ioHov/g; 

The  Engliih  parliament  of  i6S8  imported  a  man  and  his  wife  from 
Holland,  IViU'iamwvA  Mary^  and  made  them  king  and  queen  of 
England.  Having  done  this,  the  faid  parlianient  made  a  lav/  to  con- 
vev  the  governm.ent  of  the  coimtvy  to  the  heirs  of  William  and  Mary, 
in  the  following  words,  '*  V>'e,  the  lords  fpiritual  and  temporal,  and 
commons,  do,  in  the  nam.e  of  the  people  ot  England,  moil  humbly 
and  faiilifullv  fubmit  ourjfhcs^  our  hnrs,  a;ul J^iy/hrilffs,  to  William 
and  Marv,  th^lr  h:::rs  and po/leniks^^QV  ever."  And  in  a  fubfequent 
law,  as  quoted  by  Edmund  Burke,  the  faid  parliament,  in  the  name 
of  the  people  of  Engk '.d  then  living,  h'tuds  the  /aid  people,  thc'rr  heirs 
and pofierU'ieSy  to  WdUarn  and  Mary,  their  heirs  and pojt critics,  to  the 
end  nf  time. 

It  is  not  fumcient  th.at  v;e  laugh  at  the  ignorance  of  fuch  law- 
makers, it  is  necefUiry  that  v/e  reprobate  their  want  of  principle. 
The  conilitucnt  aifembly  of  France  (  lySvj)  fell  into  the  fame  vice 
as  the  parliament  of  England  had  done,  and  aiTumed  to  cHablifh  an 
hereditary  fucceffion  in  ilie  family  of  the  Capets,  as  an  a6l  of  the  con- 
fiitution  of  that  year.  Th.at  every  nation,  for  tl^  time  Icing,  has  a 
right  to  goveni  itfelf  as  it  pleafes,  m.ull  always  be  admitted  ;  but  go- 
vernmtent  by  hereditary  fncceil'on  is  government  for  another  race  of 
people,  and  not  "for  itfelf ;  and  as  thofe  on  whom  it  is  to  operate  are 
not  vet  in  exigence,  or  arc  minors,  fo  neither  is  the  right  in  exill- 
ence  to  fet  it  up  for  them,  and  to  afTume  \v.c\i  a  -right  is  treafon  a- 
gainll  tkerighr  of  pofti^fiiy.. 


DISSERTATION  ON  GOVERNMENT.  315 

I  here  clofc  the  arguments  on  the  iirft  head,  that  of  government 
by  heredit:u-y  fucccfhon  ;  and  proceed  to  the  fecond,  that  of  govern- 
ment by  eledion  and  reprefentatJon  ;  or,  as  'it  nisiy  be  concifely  ex- 
prefTed,  rehrefcnlative  gover-^imcnt  in  contradiitinclion  to  hereditary 
^■overumetrt^ 

Reafoning  by  exckifion,  if  Lercdiiary  go'vernment  has  not  a  right  to 
cxift,  and  that  it  has  not  is  pvoveable,  repi'ffeniat'roe governrdent  is  ad- 
mitted of  coiirfe. 

In  contempJating  government  by  eledion  and  reprefentation,  we 
amufe  not  ourfelves  in  enquiring  when  or  how,  or  by  what  right  it 
began.  Its  origin  is  ever  in  view.  Man  is  himfelf  the  origin  and 
the  evidence  of  the  right.  It  appertains  to  him  in  right  of  his  exill- 
ence,    and  his  perfon  is  the  title-deed. 

The  true  and  only  true  baiiTi  of  reprcfentative  government  is 
equality  of  rights.  Every  inan  has  a  right  to  one  vote,  and  no  more, 
in  the  choice  of  reprefentatives.  The  rich  have  no  more  right  to 
exclude  the  poor  from  the  right  of  voting  or  of  defying  and  being  e- 
kifledthan  the  poor  have  to  exclude  the  rich  ;  and  wherever  it  is  at- 
t-empted,  or  propofed,  on  cither  nde,  it  is  a  queftiou  of  force,  and 
not  of  right.  Who  is  he  that  would  -oxlude  another  I — That  other 
has  a  right  to  exclude  him. 

That  which  is  nov%^  called  arillocracy  implies  an  inequality  of 
rights  ;  but  who  are  the  pei-fons  that  have  a  right  to  eftabiifh  this 
inequality?  Will  the  rich  exclude  themfelves  ?  No!  Will  the  poor 
exclude  themfelves  ?  No  !  By  what  right  then  can  any  be  excluded  ? 
It  would  be  a  quedion,  i^  ^-117  man,  or  clafs  of  men,  have  a  right  to 
exclude  themfelves;  but  be  this  as  it  may,  they  cannot  have  the 
r<(.>-ht  to  exclude  another.  Tlie  poor  will  hot  delegate  fuch  a  right 
to  the  rich,,  nor  the  rich  to  the  poor,  and  to  adlime  it  is  not  only 
to  affume  arbitrary  power,  but  to  affiimc  a  right  to  commit  robbery. 
Ferfonal  rights,  of  which  the  right  of  voting  for  rcprefeutatives  is  one, 
are  a  fpecies  of  property  of  the  moll  lacreJ  kind  ;  and  he  that  would 
emoloy  his  pecuniary  property,  or  preiume  upon  the  influence  it 
gives  him,  to  difpofiefs  or  rob  another  of  his  property  of  rights,  ufes 
that  pecuniary  property  as  he  v.ould  ufe  fire-arms,  and  merits  to  have 
it  taken  from  him. 

inequality  of  rights  is  created  by  a  ccmibination  in  one  part  of  the 
community  to  exclude'  another  part  from  its  rights.  Whenever  it 
may  be  made  an  arilcle  of  a  conllitution,  or  a  law,  that  the  right  of 
voting,  or.  of  eleftlng  and  being  eleflt'd,  ihall  appertain  cxclufively 
to  perfons.poflcfliiig  a  certain    quantity  of  property,    be  it  lit tk    or 


316  PAINE's    WORKS. 

much,  it  is  a  combination,  of  the  perfons  pofTeffing  that  quantity,  to 
exclude  thofe  who  do  not  pofrefs  the  fame  quantity.  It  is  invcfling 
themfelve?  vvith  powers  as  a  felf-crcated  part  of  fociety,  to  the  excki- 
iion  of  the  reft. 

It  is  always  to  be  taken  for  granted,  that  thofe  who  oppofe  an 
equality  of  rights,  never  mean  the  exclufion  fhouid  take  place  on 
themftlves  ;  and  in  this  view  of  the  cafe,  pardoning  the  vanity  of  the 
thing,  ariiiocracy  is  a  uibitcl  of  laughter.  This  feif-foothing  vanity 
is  encouraged  by  another  idea  not  lefs  felfiili,  which  is,  that  the  op- 
pofers  conceive  they  are  playing  a  fafe  game,  in  which  there  is  a 
chance  to  gain  and  none  to  lofc  ;  that  at  any  rate  the  doctrine  of 
equality  includes  thcin,  and  that  if  they  cannot  get  more  rights  than 
thofe  whom  they  oppofe  and  would  exclude,  they  fliall  not  have  lefs- 
This  opinion  has  already  been  fatal  to  thoufands  wiio,  not  contented 
with  equal  rights^  have  fought  more  till  they  loll  all,  and  experi- 
enced in  themfeives  the  degrading  mequal'ity  they  endeavoured  to  fix 
upon  others. 

In  any  view  of  the  cafe  it  is  dangerous  and  impolitic,  fometimes 
ridiculous,  and  always  unjuil,  to  make  property  the  criterion  of  the 
right  of  voting.  If  the  fum,  or  value  of  the  property  upon  which 
the  right  is  to  take  place  be  confiderable,  it  will  exclude  a  majority  of 
the  people,  and  unite  them  in  a  common  intereft  againft  the  govern- 
ment and  ogainfl  thole  who  fupport  it,  and  as  the  power  is  always 
with  the  majority,  they  can  overturn  fuch  a  government  and  its  fup- 
pdrters  whenever  they  pleafe. 

If,  in  order  to  avoid  this  danger,  a  fmall  quantity  of  property  he 
fixed,  as  the  criterion  of  the  right,  its  exhibits  liberty  in  difgrace,  by 
putting  it  in  competition  v*'ith  accident  and  infignificance.  When  a 
brood-mare  (hall  fortunately  produce  a  foal  or  a  mule,  that  by  being 
worth  the  fum  in  queflion,  fliali  convey  to  its  owner  the  right  of  vot- 
ing, or  by  its  deaih  take  it  from  him,  \\\  whom  does  the  origin  of 
fuch  a  right  exill  ?  Is  it  iu  the  man,  ox  in  the  mule?  When  w^e  con- 
fider  how  many  ways  property  may  be  acquired  without  merit,  aud 
loft  without  a  crime,  we  ought  to  fpurn  the  idea  of  making  it  a  crite- 
rion of  rights. 

But  the  oiTenfive  part  of  the  cafe  is,  that  this  exclufion  from  the 
rip-ht  of  voting  implies  a  iligma  on  the  moral  character  of  the  pcrfons 
excluded  ;  and  this  is  what  no  part  of  the  community  has  a  right  to 
pronounce  upon  another  part.  No  external  circumftance  can  juf- 
tify  it  ;  wealtli  is  no  proof  of  moral  charafter  ;  nor  poverty  of  the 
'want  of  it.     On    the  contrary,  wealth  is  often  the  prefuraptivc   ev^ 


DISSERTATION  ON  GOVERNMENT.  317 

dencc  of  difhonefty  ;  and  poverty  the  n^g-sdv-e  evidence  of  inno- 
cence. If  therefore  property,  whether  h'ttle  or  much,  be  made  a 
criterion,  the  means  by  vvhicli  that  property  has  been  acquired, 
ought  to  be  made  a  criterion  alto. 

The  only  gi-ound  upon  which  cxclufion  from  the  right  of  voting  is 
confiftent  with  julh'ce,  would  be  to  inflidl  it  as  a  punirhraent  for  a  cer- 
tain time  upon  thofe  wlip  fliould  propofe  to  take  away  that  right  from 
others.  The  right  of  voting  for  reprefentatives  is  the  primary  right 
by  whidi  other  rights  are  protefted.  To  take  away  this  right  is  to 
reduce  a  man  to  a  Rate  of  flavcry,  for  flavery  confiils  in  being  fubjedt 
to  the  will  of  another,  and  he  that  lias  not  a  vote  in  the  election  of 
reprcfeivtatives,  is  in  this  cafe.  The  propofal  therefore  to  disfranchifc 
any  clafs  of  men  is  as  criminal  as  the  propofal  to  take  away  property. 
When  we  fpcak  of  right,  we  ought  always  to  unite  with  it  the  idea  of 
tiuties  :  Right  becomes  duties  by  reciprocity.  The  right  which  I 
enjoy  becomes  my  duty  to  guarantee  it  to  anotJier,  and  he  to  me  ;  and 
thofe  who  violate  the  duty  jullly  incur  a  forfeiture  of  the  rii>-ht. 

In  a  poHtical  wlew  of  the  cafe,  the  ftrength  and  permanent  fecurity 
of  governm.ent  is  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  people  intereiled  in 
fupporting  it.  The  true  policy  therefore  is  to  intereft  the  whole  by 
an  equality  of  rights,  for  the  danger  arifes  from  excliifions.  It  is 
pofilble  to  exclude  men  from  the  right  of  voting,  but  it  is  impolTible 
to  exclude  them  from  the  right  of  rebcHing  againd  that  exclufion  ; 
and  when  all  other  rights  are  taken  away,  the  right  of  rebellion  is  made 
perfect. 

While  men  could  be  perfuaded  they  had  no  rights,  or  that  rif/iit.i 
appertained  only  to  a  certain  chfs  of  men,  or  that  p-overnment  was  a 
thing  exifting  in  right  of  itfelf,  it  v/as  not  difficult  to  govern  them  au- 
thoritatively.  The  ignorance  in  which  they  were  held,  and  the  fii- 
perftition  in  which  they  were  inilru6lcd,.  furnifhed  the  means  of  d«ing 
it ;  but  when  the  ignorance  is  gone,  and  the  funerftitition  with  it  ; 
when  they  perceive  the  irapofition  that  has  been  acted  upon  them  ; 
when  they  reflcft  that  the  cultivator  and  the  manufafturer  are  the 
primary  means  of  all  the  wealth  that  cxills  iu  the  world,  beyond  what 
nature  fpontaneoufly  produces  ;  when  they  begin  to  feci  their  confe- 
quence  by  their  ufefulnefs,  and  their  right  as  membirs  of  fociety,  it  h 
then  no  longer  poffible  to  govern  them  as  before.  The  fraud  once 
detedled  cannot  be  readied.  To  attempt  it  is  to  provoke  derijion, 
or  invite  defi:ru6lion. 

That  property  will  ever  be  unequal  is  certain.  Induflry,  fupcri- 
ity  of  talents,  or  dexterity  of  management,  'extrcime  frugali'.y,  foftu- 


3iS  p  A  I  N  E  '  s     W  O  R  K  S. 

iiatc  opportunities,  or  the  oppofite,  or  the  mean  of  thofe  things,  will 
ever  produce  tliat  ei7ea  without  having  recourle  to  the  harfn  ill- 
founding  names  of  avarice  and  oppreiTion  ;  and  befides  this,  there  arc 
iome  men  v/ho,  though  they  do  not  defpii'e  wealtl),  will  not  ftoop  to 
the  drudgery  of  the  means  of  acquirinir  it,  nor  will  be  trowbled  whh 
the  care  of  it,  beyond  their  wants  or  their  independence  ;  whilft  in 
others  there  is  an  avidity  to  obtain  it  by  every  means  not  punilh^iblc  ; 
it  makes  the  fole  bufinefs  of  their  lives,  and  they  follow  it  ns  a  religion. 
y^/I  that  is  required  tv'ith  rcfpccl  to  property  is  to  obtain  it  horeJI/y,  and 
mt  employ  it  criminally  ;  hut  it  is  al-zuays  criiruriaHy  employed,  ivhcn  it  is 
made  a  criterion  for  exclufive  rights. 

In  inHitutions  that  are  purely  pecuniary,  fuch  as  that  of  a  bank  or 
a  commercial  co:-npany,  the  rights  of  the  menibers  compofing  that 
company  are  wholly  created  by  the  property  they  invefl  therein  ;  and 
no  other  rights  are  reprefented  in  the  government  of  tliat  company^ 
than  what  arife  out  of  that  property  ;  neither  has  that  government 
cognizance  of  any  thing  but  properly. 

But  the  cafe  is  totally  diiTerent  witli  refpeci  to  the  Inftitution  or 
civil  government,  organized  on  the  fyftem  of  reprefentation.  Such  a 
government  has  cognizance  of  e^iery  thirigy  and  c^ every  vum  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  naticSnal  fociety,  whether  he  has  property  or  not  ;  and 
tlierefore  the  principle  requires  that  every  man  and  every  kind  of  right 
be  reprefented,  of  which  the  right  to  acquire  and  to  hold  property  is 
but  one,  and  that  not  of  the  moll  efiential  kind.  The  protedion  of 
a  man's  perfon  is  m.ore  facred  than  the  prote6Hon  of  property  ;  and 
befides  this,  the  faculty  of  performing  any  kind  of  work  or  fervice  by 
which  he  acquires  a  livelihood,  or  maintaining  his  family,  is  of  the 
nature  of  property.  It  is  property  to  him  ;  he  has  acquired  it  ;  and 
it  is  as  much  the  obje61  of  his  protevilion,  as  exterior  property,  pcf- 
feiTed  without  that  faculty,  can  be  the  objedt  of  protection  to  another 
oerfon. 

I  have  alvv'ays  believed  that  the  beft  fecurity  for  property,  be  it  much 
or  little,  is  to  remove  from  every  part  of  the  community,  as  far  as  can 
polTibly  be  done,  every  caufe  of  complaint,  and  every  motive  to  vio- 
lence ;  and  this  can  only  be  done  by  an  equality  oi  riglits.  Wh^-n 
rights  are  fecure,  property  is  fecure  in  confequence.  But  vvlien 
property  is  made  a  prctciice  for  unequal  or  exclufive  riglits,  it  v.  cakens 
the  right  to  !iold  the  property,  and  provokes  indignation  and  tumult; 
for  it  is  unnatural  to  believe  that  property  can  be  fecure  under  tlie 
guarantee  of  a  fociety  injured  in  its  riglits  b  the  influence  of  that 
property. 


DlSSEllTATION  ON  GOVERNMENT.  319 

Ne.' t  to  the  injuftice  and  ill-policy  of  making  property  a  pretence 
torexcluiive  rights,  is  the  unaccountable  ahfurdity  of  giving  to  mere 
found  the  idea  of  properly,  and  annexing  to  it  certain  rights  ;  for  what 
elle  is  a  title  but  found.  Nature  is  often  giving  to  the  world  f  me 
ext  raordinary  men  who  arrive  at  fame  by  merit  and  univerfal  confent, 
fiich  as  Ariftotle,  Socrates,  Plato,  &c.  Thefe  were  truly  great  or 
noble.  But  when  government  fets  up  a  nianufa6loiy  of  nobles,  it 
is  as  abfurd,  as  if  fhe  undertook  to  manufaclure  wife  men.  Ha  nobles 
ere'' a  11  cciinicrfehs. 

As  property  honellly  obtained  is  beft  fecured  by  an  equality  of 
rights,  fo  ill-gotten  property  depends  for  prote6lion  on  a  monopoly 
of  rights.  Pie  v/ho  has  robbed  another  of  his  property,  will  next 
endeavour  to  difarrn  him  of  his  rights,  to  lecure  tirit  property  ;  for 
v/hcn  the  robber  becomes  the  ]';g!ji:icor  he  ceiicves  hiniielf  iccure. 
That  part  of  the  government  of  England  that  is  called  the  Iioufc  of 
lords  was  originally  cgmpofed  of  perfons  who  had  committed  the  rob- 
beries of  which  I  have  been  fpeaking.  It  v/as  an  affcciation  for  the 
p?-otc6lion  of  the  property  they  had  ftolen. 

.  But  befides  the  criminality  of  tlie  or-'gin  of  ariilocracy,  it  has  an 
injarious  effeCl  on  the  moral  and  phylical  charailer  of  m^an.  Like  fla- 
veiy,  it  debilitates  the  human  faculties;  for  as  the  mind,  bowed  down 
by  flavery,  lofes  in  filence  its  elaftic  pov>'erg,  fo,  in  the  contrary  ex- 
treme, when  it  is  buoyed  up  by  folly,  it  becomes  incapable  of  ex- 
erting them,  and  dv/indles  into  imbecility.  It  is  impoffible  that  a 
mind  employed  upon  ribands  and  titles  can  ev(^r  be  great.  The 
ckildifhnefs  of  the  objefts  confumes  the  man. 

It  is  at  all  times  neceiTary,  and  more  particulaily  fo  during  the  pro- 
gi'efs  of  a  revolution,  and  until  right  ideas  confirm  themlelves  by  haliit, 
that  we  frequently  refrcfh  our  patriotifm  by  reference  to  firll  prin- 
ples.  It  is  by  tracing  things  to  their  origin  that  Vv-e  learn  to  under- 
iland  them  ;  and  it  is  by  keeping  that  lint  and  that  origin  always  in 
view  that  we  never  forget  them. 

An  enquiry  into  the  origin  of  rights,  will  demonftrate  to  us  that 
rights  ,are  r.(jt  gifts  from  one  man  to  another,  nor  from  one  clafs  of 
men  to  another  ;  for  who  is  he  who  uould  be  the  firft  giver,  or  by 
what  principle,  or  on  what  authority,  could  he  DoiTefs  the  right  of 
giving  ?  A  declaration  of  rights  is  not  a  creation  of  them,  nor  a  do- 
nati(jn  of  chem.  It  is  a  manifeft  of  the  principle  by  wh-.h  they  exiJl, 
fgllovved  by  a  detail  of  what  the  rights  are;  for  every  ci  ii  ri'^ht  hns 
a  natural  right  for  its  foundation,  and  it  includes  t!:c  principle  of  a 
reciproc-'l  guarantee  of  thofe  rights  from  man  to  man.     Ai  therefore 


320  P  A  I  N  E  '  s     W  O  R  IC  S. 

U  IS  impoinbi-e  to  difeover  any  origin  of  rights  otkerwife  than  in  tliC 
origin  of  man,  it  confe<|uently  follows,  that  rights  appertain  to  mati 
in  rigfet  of  his  exiftence  only,  and  mull  therefore  be  equal  to  every 
man.  The  principle  of  an  equality  ofri.ghu  is  clear  and  hmple.  Every 
man  can  underlland  it,^  and  it  is  by  underftanding  his  rights  that  he 
learns  his  duties;  for  where  the  rights  of  men  are  equal,  every  ma« 
mull  finally  fee  the  necefhty  of  protecting  the  rights  of  others  as  the 
mod;  eitV6lual  fecurity  for  his  own.  But  if  in  the  formation  of  a  con- 
ftitution  ^ve  depart  from  the  principle  of  equal  rights,  or  attempt  any 
modification  of  it,  we  plunge  into  a  labyrinth  of  difficulties  from 
whicii  ther€  is  no  way  out  but  by  retreating.  Where  are  Vve  to  llop  r 
Or  by  what  principle  are  .we  te  find  out  the  point  to  flop  at,  that 
fixall  dilcnirjiiatc  between  men  of  tlie  fame  country,  part  of  whom 
{hail  be  free,  and  the  rcil  not  ?  If  property  is  to  be  made  tlie  crite- 
rion, it  is  a  total  departure  from  every  moral  principle  of  liberty,  be- 
caufe  it  is  attaching  rights  to  mere  matter,  and  making  man  the  agent 
of  that  matter.  It  is  moreover  holding  up  property  as  an  apple  of 
difcord,  and  not  onlv  exciting  but  juiiifying  war  againft  it;  for  I 
maintain  the  principle,  that  w^jcn  property  is  ufed  as  an  infirument  to 
take  away  the  rights  of  thofe  who  nrjy  happen  not  to  pofiefs  pro- 
perty, it  is  ufed  to  an  unlawful  puipofc.  as  fire-arms  v/ould  be  in  a 
fimilar  cafe. 

In  a  ftatc  oF  nature  all  men  are  equal  in  rights,  but  tliev  are  not 
equal  in  power  ;  the  weak  cannot  protect  liimiclf  againft  the  llrong. 
This  being  the  cafe,  the  inititution  of  civil  fociety  is  for  the  purpolc 
of  making  an  equalization  of  powers  that  fliall  be  parallel  to,  and  a 
guarantee  of  the  equality  of  rights.  The  laws  of  a  country  when  pro- 
perly conilruc^lcd  apply  to  this  purpofc.  Every  man  takes  the  arm 
of  the  law  for  his  proteftion  as  mere  cfFcctual  than  his  own  ;  and 
therefore  every  m.an  li^s  an  equal  right  in  tiie  formation  of  ihe  govern- 
m.ent  and  of  the  laws  by  which  he  is  to  be  governed  and  judged.  In 
extenfive  countries  and  fociifties,  fuch  as  America  and  France,  this 
right,  in  the  individu:tl  can  only  be  exercifed  by  delegation,  that  is, 
by  cleftion  and  reprcfcnta.tiou;  and  hence  it  is  that  the  inilitution  of 
reprefentative  government  arifes. 

Hitherto  I  have  confined  myfelf  to  matters  of  principle  only. 
Firft,  that  hereditary  government  has  not  a  right  to  ex  ill:;  that  it 
cannot  be  eftabliflied  on  any  principle  of  right;  and  that  it  is  a  viola- 
tion of  all  principle.  Secondly,  that  government  by  election  and  rc- 
prefentation  has  its  origin  in  the  natural  and  eternal  rights  of  man; 
f©r  whether  a  mjjn  be  \\h  own  lav/giver,    ai;  he  would  be  in  a  Ilate  of 


DISSERTATION  ON  GOVERNMENT.  321 

nature;  or  whether  he  exercifes  his  portion  of  legiflative  fovcreignty 
ill  his  own  perfon,  as  might  be  the  cafe  in  fmall  democracies  where 
all  could  aiTemble  for  the  formation  of  the  laws  by  which  they  were 
to  be  governed  ;  or  whether  he  exercifes  it  in  the  choice  of  perfons 
to  reprefent  him  in  a  national  affembly  of  reprefentatives,  the  origin 
of  the  right  is  the  fame'  in  all  cafes.  The  firft,  as  is  before  obferved, 
is  defedive  in  power;  the  fecond,  is  prac^licable  only  in  democracies 
of  fraall  extent;  the  third,  is  the  greatefl  fcale  upon  which  human 
government  can  be  inftituted. 

Next  to  matters  of  prmciphy  are  matters  of  Gpinion,  and  it  is  nccef- 
fary  to  diftinguifli  between  the  two.  Whether  the  rights  of  men  fhall 
be  equal  is  not  a  matter  of  opinion  but  of  right,  and  confequently  of 
principle  ;  for  men  do  not  hold  their  rights  as  grants  from  each  other, 
but  each  one  in  right  of  himfelf.  Society  is  the  guardian  but  not  the 
giver.  And  as  in  extenfive  focieties,  fuch  as  America  and  France, 
the  right  of  the  individual  in  matters  of  government,  cannot  be  exer- 
cifed  but  by  elefiion  and  r.  prefentation ;  it  confequently  follows, 
that  the  only  fyflem  of  government,  confillent  with  principle,  wliere 
fimple  democracy  is  imprafticable,  is  the  reprefentatlve  fyllem.  But 
as  to  the  organical  part,  or  the  manner  in  wh  ch  the  feveral  parts  of 
government  fhall  be  arranged  and  compofed,  it  is  altogether  matter 
of  opinion.  It  is  neceffary  that  all  the  parts  be  conformable  with  the 
principle  of  equal  rights ;  and  fo  long  as  this  principle  be  religioufly 
adhered  to,  no  veiy  material  error  can  take  place,  neither  can  any 
error  continue  long  in  that  part  that  falls  within  the  province  of 
opinion. 

In  all  matters  of  opinion,  the  focial  compact,  or  the  principle  by 
which  foclety  Is  held  together,  requires  that  the  majority  of  opinions 
becomes  the  rule  for  the  whole,  and  that  the  minority  yields  pra<?lical 
obedience  thereto.  This  Is  perfcdly  conformable  to  the  principle  of 
equal  rights;  for.  In  the  firil  place,  every  nan  has  a  ri^ht togive  an 
opinion,  but  no  man  has  a  right  that  his  own  fhould  govern  the  reft. 
In  the  fecond  place,  it  is  not  fuppofed  to  be  known  before-hand  on 
which  fide  of  any  queflion,  whether  for  or  againlt,  any  man's  opinion 
will  fall.  He  may  happen  to  be  In  a  majority  upon  fome  queftions, 
and  In  a  minority  upon  others;  and  by  the  fame  rule  that  he  expecfls 
©bedlence  in  the  one  cafe,  he  mull  yield  it  in  the  other.  All  the  dif- 
orders  that  have  arifen  in  France  during  the  progrefs  of  the  revolu- 
tion have  had  their  origin,  not  in  the  principle  of  equal  rights,  but  m 
the  violation  of  that  principle.  The  principle  of  equal  rights  has 
been  repeatedly  violated,  and  that  not  by  the  majority,  but  by  the 
Vol.  II.  T  t 


322  PA  I  NE's    W  O  R  KS. 

minority,  and  thai  mimrify  has  been  compofedof  mcfi  poffelJing properfyr 
as  'well  as  of  men  iv'ithout  property  ;  property  therefore^  even  upon  the  ex- 
perience already  had,  is  no  more  a  criterion  of  rharauer  than  it  is  of  rights. 
It  will  fometimes  happen  that  the  minority  are  right,  and  the  majo- 
rity are  wrong,  but  3s  foon  ss  experience  proves  this  to  be  the  cafe, 
the  minority  will  increafe  to  a  majoritv,  and  the  error  will  reform 
itfelf  by  the  tranquil  operation  of  freedom  of  opinion  and  equality  of 
rights.  Nothing  tlierefore  can  j^iflify  an  infurre^Lion,  neither  c?^n  it 
ever  be  neceflary,  wlicre  rights  are  equal  and  opinions  free. 

Taking  then  the  principle  of  equal  rights  as  the  foundation  of  the 
revoltTtion,  and  confequently  of  the  conftitutios,  the  organical  part, 
or  the  manner  ixx  which  the  feveral  parts  of  the  government  fnall  be 
aranged  in  the  coriftitution,  v/illj  ds  is  already  faid,  fall  within  the 
province  of  opinion. 

Various  methods  will  pi-cfent  themfelves  upon  a  qucHion  of  this 
kind,  and  thougfh  exrerience  is  vet  wantin"-  to  determine  vvhlch  is  the 
bell,  it  has,  1  think,  fufficiently  decided  which  is  the  worfl.  That  is 
the  worft,  which  h\  its  deliberations  "and  decihoiis  is  fubjefl  to  the 
precipitancy  and  paluon  of  an  individual;  and  when  the  whole  legif- 
lature  is  crov/ded  into  one  body,  it  is  an  individual  in  mafs.  In  all 
cafes  of  deliberation  it  is  necefiary  to  have  a  corps  of  referve,  and  it 
would  be  better  to  divide  the  reprefentation  by  lot  into  two  parts, 
and  let  them  revife  and  correct  each  other,  than  that  the  whole  fliould 
ilt  togethi'r  and  debate  at  once. 

Reprefentative  government  is  not  necefiarily  coniined  to  any  one 
particular  form.  The  principle  is  the  fame  m  all  the  forms  under 
which  it  can  be  arranged.  The  equal  rights  of  the  people  is  the  root 
from  which  the  whole  fprings,  and  the  branches  may  be  arranged  as 
prefcnt  opinion  or  future  experience  (liall  beft  diredl.  As  to  that 
hofpital  of  incur  able  s  (asChefteriield  calls  it)  the  Britifli  houfe  of  peers, 
it  is  an  excrcfcencc  growing  out  of  corruption;  and  there  is  no  more 
affinity  or  rcfemblance  between  any  of  the  branches  of  a  legiflative 
body  originating  from  the  right  of  the  people,  and  the  aforefald 
houfe  of  peers,  than  between  a  regular  member  of  the  human  body 
and  an  ulcerated  wen- 

;    As  to  that  part  of  government  that  is  called  the  execufi'ne^  It  Is  ne- 
ccfTary  in  the  aril  place  to  fix  a  prccife  meaning  to  the  word. 

There  arc  but  two  divifious  into  which  power  can  be  arranged. 
Firft,  that  of  willing  or  decreeing  the  laws  ;  fecondly,  that  of  exe- 
cuting or  putting  them  in  pra£licel  The  former,  correfponds  to  the 
iaWiilletliMkal  faculties   of  the  hvimap.  mind,   wlvich   rcafoRs  and  deter- 


DISSERTATION  ON  GOVERNMENT.  323 

mines  what  (hall  be  done  ;  tlie  fccond  to  the  mechanical  powers  of 
the  human  body  that  puts  that  determination  into  praftice.  If  the 
former  decides,  and  the  latter  does* not  perform,  it  is  a  ftate  of  im- 
becility ;  and  if  the  latter  aifts  without  the  predetei-mination  of  the 
former,  it  is  a  ftate  of  lunacy.  The  executive  department  there- 
fore is  offtcial,  and  is  fubordinate  to  the  legiflative,  as  the  body  is 
to  the  mind  in  a  ilate  of  health  ;  for,  it  is  impofiible  to  conceive  the 
idea  of  two  fovereignties,  a  fovereignty  to  n^^'dl,  and  a  fovereignty 
to  aB.  The  executive  is  not  invefted  wiih  the  pov>'er  of  deliberating 
whether  it  ihail  a£l  or  not  ;■  it  has  no  difcrctionary  authority  in  the 
cafe  ;  for  it  can  a&  no  other  thing  that  what  the  laws  decree,  and  it  is 
obliged  to  a<ft  conformably  thereto  ;  and  in  tin's  view  of  the  cafe,  the 
executive  is  made  up  of  all  the  official  departments  that  execute  the 
laws,    of  which,  that  which  is  called  the  judiciary  is  the  chief. 

But  mankind  have  conceived  an  idea  xhintfomi-  kind  of  atithortty  is 
necelTary  to  fuper'mtend  the  execution  of  the  laws,  and  to  fee  that 
they  are  faithfully  performed  ;.  and  it  is  by  confaunding  this  fuper- 
i-ntendiag  authority  with  the  of&cial  execution  that  we  get  embarraf- 
fed  about  the  terra  txecntrcs  power, — All  the  parts  in  the  govern- 
ments of  the  United  States  of  America  that  are  called  the  execu- 
tive, are  no  other  than  authorities  ta  fuperintend  the  execution  of 
the  laws  ;  and  they  are  fo  fr.r  independent,  of  the  legiflative,  that 
they  know  the  legillative  only  through  the  laws,,  and  cannot  be  con- 
trolled or  directed  by  it,    through  any  other  medium. 

In  what  manner  this  fuperintending  authority  (liall  be  appointed 
or  compofed,  is  a  matter  that  fails  v/ithin.  the  province  of  opinion. 
Some  may  prefer  one  method  and  ferae  another,*  and  in  all  cafes, 
wliere  opinion  only  and  not  principle  is  concerned,  the  majority  of 
opinions  forms  the  rule  for  all.  There  are  however  fome  things  decu- 
cible  from  reafon,  and  evidenced  by.  experience,  that  ferve  to  giiide 
our  d.ccifion  upon  jhe  cafe.  The  one  is,  never  to  inveft  any  indi- 
vidual with  extraordinary  power  ;  for  befides  his  being  tempted  to 
mifufe  it,  it  will  excite  contention  and  commotion  in  the  nation  for 
the  ofuce.  Secondly,  never  to  inveft  power  long  in  the  hands  of 
any  number  of  individuals.  The  inconveniences  that  m.ay  be  fup- 
pofed  to  accompany  frequent  changes,  are  lefs  to  be  feared  than  the 
danger  that  arif.s  from  long  continuance. 

1  ftiall  conclude  this  difcourfe  with  offering  fome  obfervations  on 
xhcmn-An^  o^  preferring  Uherij  ;  for  it  ia  not  only  necelTary  that  we 
eftablifh  it,  but  that  we  preferve  it. 

It  fsj  in  the  hrft  place,  necefiary  that  v/e  diftinguifii  between  the 


:  3'-4  PAINE's     WORKS. 

means  maJe  life  of  to  overtlirow  defpotifm,  in  order  to  prepare  the 
way  for  the  cftablifhment  of  liberty,  and  the  means  to  be  iifed  after 
defpotifm  is  overthrown. 

The  means  made  ufe  of  in  the  lirit  cafe  are  juftified  by  nccefiity. 
Thofe  means  are,  in  general,  Infiirrevaons  ;  for  whilll  the  eftablifhed 
government  of  defpotifm  continues  in  any  country,  it  is  fcarcely  pof- 
fible  that  any  other  means  can  be  ui'ed.  It  is  alfo  certain  that  in  the 
commcncem^ent  of  a  revouiticn,  the  revolutionary  party  permit  to 
themfelves  a  d'lfcret'wnary  exercife  of  power  regulated  more  by  circum- 
flances  than  by  principle,  winch  were  the  pra6lice  to  continue,  li- 
berty would  never  be  e.'labliraed,  or  if  eftablifhed  would  foon  be 
overthrov/n.  It  is  never  to  be  expected  \r\  a  revolution  that  every 
man  is  to  change  his  opinion  at  the  fame  moment.  There  never  yet 
■was  any  truth  or  any  principle  fo  irrefiftibly  obvious,  that  all  men  be- 
lieved it  at  once.  Time  and  reafon  mufl  co-operate  with  each  other 
to  the  final  eftablitliment  of  any  principle  ;  and  therefore  thofe  wl.o 
may  happen  to  be  firil  convinced  have  not  a  right  to  perfecute 
others,  on  whom  convidion  operates  more  flowly.  The  moral  prin- 
ciple of  revolutions  is  to  inftruft  ;    not  to  deftroy. 

Had  a  conftltution  been  ellabli(hed  two  years  ago  fas  ought  to 
have  been  done)  the  violences  that  have  fmce  defolatcd  France  and 
injured  the  character  of  the  revolution,  would,  in  my  opinion,  have 
been  prevented.  The  nation  would  then  have  had  a  bond  of  union, 
and  every  individual  would  have  known  the  line  of  condu6l  he  was  ta 
follow.  But  in  [lead  of  this,  a  revolutionary  government,  a  thing 
without  either  principle  or  authority,  was  fubllituted  in  its  place  ; 
virtue  and  crime  depended  upon  accident  ;  and  that  which  was  pa- 
triotifm  one  day  became  treafon  the  next.  All  thefe  things 
have  followed  from  the  v^-ant  of  a  conflitution  ;  for  it  is  the  nature 
and  intention  of  a  conflitution  to  prevent  go'venihig  by  party ^  by  eftab- 
lifhing  a  common  principle  that  fhall  limit  and  control  the  power 
and  impulfc  of  party,  and  that  fays  to  all  parties,  i  hus  far  shalt 
THOU  GO  ANt)  KO  FURTHER.  But  in  the  abfcncc  of  a  conflitution 
men  look  entirely  to  party  ;  and  inftead  of  principle  governing  party, 
party  governs  principle - 

An  avidity  to  punifli  is  always  dangerous  to  liberty.  It  leads 
men  to  ilretch,  to  mifmtcrpret,  and  to  mifapply  even  the  heft  of 
laws.  He  that  would  make  his  own  liberty  fecure,  mufl  guard 
even  his  enemy  from  opprelTion  ;  for  if  he  violates  this  duty,  he 
eftabhfhes  a  precedent  that  will  reach  to  himfelf. 

THOMAS  PAINE. 


LETTER 


T  O 


MR.    SECRETARY    DUN  DAS. 


A: 


SIR,  London,  June  6,  1792. 


.S  you  opened  the  debate  in  the  houfe  of  commons,  May  25th, 
on  the  proclamation  for  fupprefling  pubHcations,  which  that  procla- 
mation (without  naming  any)  calls  wicked  and  feditious;  and  as  you 
applied  thofe  opprobrious  epithets  to  the  works  entitled  Rights  of 
Many  I  think  it  unnecefTary  to  offer  any  other  reafon  for  addrefiing 
this  letter  to  you. 

I  begin,  then,  at  once,  by  declaring,  that  I  do  not  believe  there 
are  to  be  found  in  the  writings  of  any  author,  ancient  or  modern,  on 
the  fubjedl  of  government,  a  fpirit  of  greater  benignity,  and  a  ftronger 
inculcation  of  moral  principles  than  in  thofe  which  I  have  publiihed. 
They  come,  Sir,  from  a  man,  who,  by  having  lived  in  different  coun- 
tries, and  under  different  fyftems  of  government,  aud  who,  being  in- 
timate in  the  conftrudlion  of  them,  is  a  better  judge  of  the  fubjeA 
than  it  is  pofiible  that  you,  from  the  want  of  thofe  opportunities  can 
be  : — and  befides  this,  they  come  from  a  heart  that  knows  not  how 
to  beguile. 

I  will  further  fay,  that  when  that  moment  arrives  in  w^hich  the  befl 
confolation  that  ihallbe  left  will  be  that  of  looking  back  on  fome  pafl 
actions,  more  virtuous,  more  meritorious  than  the  rell,  I  fhall  then 
with  happinefs  remember,  among  other  things,  I  have  written  the 
Rights  of  Man. — As  to  what  proclamations,  or  profecution?,  or  place- 
men, or  place  expectants — thofe  who  poffefs,  or  thofe  who  are  gaping 
for  office,  may  fay  of  them,  it  will  not  alter  their  character,  eitlier 
with  the  world  or  with  me. 

Having,  lir,  made  this  declaration,  I  fnall  proceed  to  remark,  not 
particularly  upon  your  own  fpeech  on  that  occailon,  but  on  any  other 
fpeech  to  which  your  motion  on  that  day  gave  rife ;  and  1  (hail  begin 
with  that  of  Mr.  Adam : 

This  gentleman  accufes  me  of  not  having  dyne  the  very  thing, 
that  I  have  done,  and  whick  (he  fays)  if  I  h;^d  done,  he  faould  not 
have  aceufcd  me. 


326  P  A  I  N  E  '  s     W  O  R  K  S. 

Mr.  Adam,  in  his  fpcech  (fee  the  Morning- Chronicle  of  May  26)',. 
fays,  "  That  he  had  well  coniidered  the  fubjeft  of  conftitutional  pub- 
licationG,  and  was  by  no  means  ready  to  fay  (but  the  contrary)  that 
books  of  fcience  upon  govt-rnment  though  recommending  a  do&in^,,. 
or  fyftcm  different  from  the  form  of  our  conftitution  (meaning  that 
of  England),  were  fit  objcAs  of  profecution;  that  if  he  did,  he  mufl 
condemn  (which  he  meant  not  to  do)  Harrington  for  his  Oceana^ 
Sir  Thomas  More  for  his  Eutopia>  and  Hume  for  his  Idea  of  a  Per- 
fedl  Commonv/ealth.  But  (continued  Mr.  Adam)  the  publication 
of  Mr.  Paine  was  very  different,  for  it  reviled  what  was  mofl  facred 
in  the  conflitution,  deftroyed  every  principle  of  fubordination,  and 
eflablifhed  nothing  in  their  room."' 

I  readily  perceived  that  Mr.  Adam  had  not  read  the  fecond  part 
of  the  Rights  of  Man,  and  I  am  put  under  the  neceflity  either  oi 
fubmitting  to  an  erroneous  charge,  or  of  juflifying  myfelf  againft  it: 
and  I  certainly  fliall  prefer  the  latter. — If,  then,  I  fiiali  prove  to  M/^. 
Adam,  that  in  my  reafoju'ng  upon  fyftems  @f  government,  in  the  fe- 
cond part  of  Rights  of  Man,  I  have  fliewn,  as  clearly,  I  think,  as 
words  can  convey  ideas,  a  certain  fyilem.  of  government  ;  and  that 
not  exifling  in  theory  only,  but  already  in  full  and  eftabliflied  prac- 
tice, and  fyilematically  and  practically  free  from  all  the  vices  and 
defedts  of  the  Englifli  government,  and  capable  of  producing  more 
happinefs  to  tljtf  people,  and  that  alfo  with  an  eightieth  part  of  the 
taxes,  which  tlipprefcnt  fyflem  of  Engliih  government  confumes;  I 
hope  he  will  do  m.e  the  juilice  when  he  next  goes  to  the  houfe  to  get 
up  and  confefs,  he  had  been  miftaken  in  faying,  that  I  had  eflablifhed 
nothing,  and  that  I  had  deilroyed  every  principle  of  fubordination. 
Having  thus  opened  the  cafe,  I  now  come  to  the  point. 

In  the  fecond  part  of  Rights  of  Man  I  have  diitinguiihed  govern^ 
ment  into  two  claffes  or  fyllems ;  the  one  the  hereditary  fyilem,  the- 
other  the  reprefentative  fyftem. 

In  the  lirit  part  of  Rights  of  Man  I  have  endeavoured  to  fhew,  and 
I  challenge  any  man  to  rt-fute  it,  that  there  does  not  exill  a  riglit  to 
ellablifh  hereditary  government;  or,  in  other  words,  hereditary  go- 
vernors; becaufe  hereditary  government  always  means  a  government 
yet  to  comie,  and  the  cafe  always  is,  that  the  people  who  are  to  live 
afterwards  have  always  the  fame  right  to  choofe  a  government  for 
themfelves,  as  the  people  had  who  lived  before  them. 

In  the  fecond  part  of  Rights  of  Man  I  have  not  repeated  thofe 
arguments,  becaufe  they  are  irrefutable ;  but  have  confined  myfelf  to 
flicw  the  defeats  of  what  is  called  hereditary  government,  or  heredi- 


LETTER  TO  MR.  SECRETAR-Y  BUNDAS.        327 

tary  fuccefiion,  that  it  muft,  from  the  nature  of  it,  throw  government 
into  the  hands  of  men  totally  unworthy  of  it,  from  want  of  principle, 
or  unfitted  for  it  from  want  of  capacity. — James  lid.  is  recorded  as 
an  inilance  of  the  firlt  of  thefe  cafes;  and  inftances  are  to  be  found 
alcioft  all  over  Europe  to  prove  the  truth  of  the  latter. 

To  iliew  the  abfurdity  of  the  hereditary  fyftem  flill  more  (Irongly, 
I  will  now  put  the  following  cafe : — take  any  fifty  men  promifcuoufiy, 
and  it  will  be  very  extraordinary  if,  out  of  that  number,  more  than 
one  man  fi:iould  be  found,  whofe  princiulcs  and  talents  taken  together 
(or  fome  might  have  principles,  and  others  have  talents)  would  ren- 
der him  a  perfon  truly  fitted  to  fill  any  very  extraordinary  office  of 
national  trufh  If  then  fucli  a  ficnefs  of  charafter  could  not  be  ex- 
pefted  to  be  fo-und  in  more  than  one  perfon  out  of  fifty,  it  would 
happen  but  once  in  a  thoufand  years  to  the  elded  fon  of  any  one  fa- 
mily, admitting  each  on  an  average,  to  hold  the  office  twenty  years, 
Mr.  Adam  talks  of  fomething  in  the  conftitution  which  he  calls  mofi: 
facred;  but  T  hope  he  does  not  mean  hereditary  fucceffion,  a  thing 
which  appears  to  me  a  violation  of  every  order  of  nature  and  of  com- 
mon fenfe, 

Wlien  I  look  into  liiftory  and  fee  the  multitudes  of  men,  otherwife 
virtuous,  who  have  died,  and  their  families  been  ruined,  in  defence  of 
knaves  and  fools,  and  which  they  would  not  have  done  had  they  rea- 
foned  at  all  upon  the  fyftem;  I  do  not  know  a  greater  good  that  an 
individual  can  render  to  mankind,  than  to  endeavour  to  break  the 
chains  of  political  fuperflition.  Thofe  chains  are  now  diflblving  faft, 
and  proclamations  and  profecutions  will  ferve  but  to  haften  that  dif- 
foiution. 

Having  thus  fpoken  of  the  hereditary  fyftem  as  a  bad  fyftem,  and 
fubjedl  to  every  poffible  defect,    I  now  come  to  the  reprefeatative  fyf-  , 
tern  ;  and  this  Mr.  Adam  will  find  ftated  in  the  fecond  part  of  Rights 
of  Man,  not  only  as  the  beft,  but  as  the  only  theory  of  government 
under  which  the  liberties  of  a  people  can  be  permanentlv  fecure. 

But  it  is  needlefs  nov.'  to  talk  of  mere  theory,  fince  there  Is  already 
a  government  in  full  pradtlce,  eftabllHied  upon  that  theory  ;  or,  in 
other  words,  upon  the  rights  of  man,  and  has  been  fo  for  almoft 
twenty  years.  Mr.  Pitt,  in  a  fpcech  of  his  fome  ftiort  time  fiiice, 
faid  *  That  there  never  did,  and  never  could  exiil  a  government  eftab- 
lifhed  upon  thofe  rights,  and  that  if  It  began  at  noon,  it  woidd  end 
at  nights' — Mr.  Pitt  has  not  yet  arrived  at  the  degree  of  a  fchool  boy 
in  this  fpecics  of  knowledge.  His  pra6licc  has  been  confined  to  the 
Bieans   of  extorting  revenue,    and  his   boaft   has  been — how  much? 


32g  P  AINE's    wo  RKS. 

Whereas  the  boai'l  of  the  fyftem  of  government  that  I  am  fpeaking 
of,  is  not  how  much,  but  how  little. 

The  fyllem  of  government  purely  reprefentative,  unmixed  with  any 
thing  of  hereditary  nonfenfe,  began  in  America.  I  will  now  compare 
the  effedls  of  that  fyftem  of  government,  with  the  fyllem  of  govern- 
ment in  England,  both  during  and  fince  the  clofe  of  the  war. 

So  powerful  is  tlie  reprefentative  fyftem; — firft,  by  com.bining  and 
confolidating  all  the  parts  of  a  country  together,  however  great  the 
extent;  and  fccondly,  by  admitting  of  none  but  men  properly  quali- 
fied into  the  government,  or  difmifling  them  if  they  prove  otherwife, 
that  America  was  enabled  thereby  totally  to  defeat  and  overthrow 
all  the  fchemes  and  projeds  of  the  hereditary  government  of  Eng- 
land againil  her.  As  the  eftablifliment  of  the  revolution  and  inde- 
pendence of  America  is  a  proof  of  this  h£i,  it  is  neediefs  to  enlarge 
npon  it. 

I  now  come  to  the  comparative  effeft  of  the  two  fyftems  fince  the 
clofe  of  the  war,  and  I  requeft  Mr.  Adam  to  attend  to  it. 

America  had  internally  fuitained  the  ravage  of  upwards  of  feven 
years  of  war,  which  England  had  not.  England  fuftained  only  the 
expence  of  the  war  :  whereas  America  fuftained,  not  only  the  expence, 
but  the  deftruftion  of  property  committed  by  both  armies.  Not  a 
houfe  was  built  during  that  period,  and  many  thoufands  were  def- 
troyed.  The  farms  and  plantations  along  the  coaft  of  the  country, 
for  more  than  a  thoufand  miles,  were  laid  wafte.  Her  commerce  was 
annihilated.  Her  ftiips  were  either  taken  or  had  rotted  within  her 
own  harbours.  The  credit  of  her  funds  had  fallen  upwards  of  ninety 
per  cent,  that  is,  an  original  hundred  pounds  would  not  fell  for  ten 
pounds.  In  fine,  fhe  was  apparently  put  back  an  hundred  years 
when  the  warclofed;  which  was  not  the  cafe  with  England. 

But  fuch  was  the  event,  that  the  fiime  reprefentative  fyftem  of  go- 
vernment, though  fince  better  organized,  which  enabled  her  to  con- 
quer enabled  her  alfo  to  recover,  and  ftie  now  prefents  a  more  flou- 
riftiing  condition,  and  a  more  happy  and  harmonized  fociety  under 
that  fyftem  of  government,  than  any  country  in  the  world  can  boaft 
under  any  oiher.  Her  towns  are  re-built  much  better  than  before  ; 
her  farms  and  plantations  are  in  higher  improvement  than  ever;  her 
commerce  ia  fpread  over  the  world,  and  her  funds  have  rifen  from  lefs 
than  ten  pounds  the  hundred  to  upwards  of  one  hundred  and  twenty. 
Mr-  Pitt  and  his  colleagues,  talk  of  the  things  that  have  happened  ia 
his  boyifti  adminiftration,  without  knowing  what  greater  things  have 
happened  elfewhere,  and  under  other  fyftemg  of  government. 


LETTER  TO  MR.  SECRETARY  DUNDAS.         339- 

I  next  come  to  ftate  the  expence  of  the  two  fyftcms,  as  they  now 
iland  in  each  of  the  coantn'es  ;  but  it  may  firft  be  proper  to  obferve, 
that  government  in  America  is  what  it  ought  to  be,  a  matter  of  honour 
and  truft,  and  not  made  a  trade  of  for  the  purpofe  of  lucre. 

The  whole  amount  of  the  nett  taxes  in  England  (cy.clufive  of  the 
expence  of  colle6lions,  of  drawbacks,  of  feizures  and  condemnations, 
of  fines  and  penalties,  of  fees  of  office,  of  litigations  and  inforniers, 
which  are  fome  of  the  bleffed  means  of  enforcing  them)  is,  feventeen 
millions.  Of  this  fum,  about  nine  millions  go  for  the  payment  of  the 
interelt  of  the  national  debt,  and  the  remainder,  being  about  eight 
millions,  is  for  the  current  annual  expences.  Thus  miich  for  one 
fide  of  the  cafe.      I  now  come  to  the  other. 

The  expence  of  all  the  feveral  departments  of  the  general  reprefen- 
tative  government  of  the  United  States  of  America,  extending  over  a 
fpace  of  country  nearly  ten  times  larger  than  England,  is  two  hundred 
and  ninety-four  thoufand  five  hundred  and  fifty  eight  dollars,  which  at 
4s.  6d.  per  dollar,  1366,2751.  lis.  fteriiijg,  and  is  thus  apportioned: 
Expence  of  the    execut'i've    departinent. 
The  office  of  prefidency,    nt  which  the   prefidcnt  re- 
ceives nothing  for  himfelf. 
Vice-prefident  / 

Chief  juftice 
Five  afTociatesjuftices 
Nineteen     judges    of   diHrid    and    attorney-ge- 
neral 6,873      15 
Legl/Iatlve   department. 
Members  of  congrefs  at  6  dols.  (il.  7s.)  per   day, 
their  fecretaries,    clerks,    chaplains,  mefTcngers, 
door-keepers,  &c.                                                       25,515       o 

Treafury   department. 
Secretary,  affiftant,  comptroller,  auditor,  treafurer, 
regifter,  and  loan-office  keeper  in  each  ftate,   to- 
gether with  all  neceffary  clerks,office  keepers,  &c.  12,825        o 

Department  of  f}atCy   including  foreign    affairs. 
Secretary,  clerks,  &c.  &:c.  1,406       5 

^^   ^  Department   of  <iuar. 

Secretary,   clerks,  paymafters,  commiffioner,  &c.  1,462      10 

CommiJJjotiers  for  fettling   old  accQunts. 
The  whole  board,  clerks,   &c.  2,598      15 

Vol.  II  U  u 


/• 

■r. 

5^625 

0 

1,125 

0 

900 

0 

3>937 

10 

530  .         P  A  I  N  E  ^  s     W  O  R  K  S. 

Incidental  and    contingent    expehces.  j[^.  s- 

For  Irre-wocd,   ilationary^    printing-,   Src.  45^3^        i^ 


Total,  ^/^.  66,2  7  5  It 
On  account  of  the  incurfions  of  the  Indians  on  the  back  fettle- 
m^-nts,  congrefs  is  at  this  time  obliged  to  keep  fix  thor.fand  militia 
in  pay,  in  addition  to  a  regiment  of  foot,  and  a  battalion  of  artillery, 
which  it  always  keeps  ;  and  this  increc\fec;  the  expence  of  the  war- 
dcpart.'ncnt  to  300.000  dollars,  v:hich  is  87,795!.  flerliug,  but  when 
peace  fliall  be  conel'.idcd  witli  the  Indians,  the  greateil  part  of  this 
expence  will  ceafe,  and  the  total  aniount  of  the  expence  of  govern- 
ment, including  that  of  the  army,  will  not  amount  to  one  hundred 
thoufand  pounds  llerh'ng,  whicjj,  as  has  been  already  ftated,  is  but 
an  eightieth  part  of  the  expcnces  of  the  Enghfh  government. 

I  requeft  Mr.  Adam  and  Mr.  Dundas,  and  all  thofe  who  are  talk- 
ing of  conllitutians,  andbleilings,  and  kings,  and  lords,  and  the  Lord 
know  what,  to  look  at  this  ilatemtnt.  Here  is  a  form  and  fyftem  of 
government,  that  is  better  organized  and  better  adminiiLered  than, 
any  governrnjcnt  in  the  world,  and  that  for  lefs  than  one  hundred 
thoufand  pounds  per  annum,  and  yet  every  member  of  congrcfs  re- 
ceives, as  a  compenfaticn  for  his  time  and  attendance  on  public  bu- 
hnefs,  one  pound  feven  (hillings  per  day,  wliich  is  at  the  rate  of 
nearly  iive  hundred  pounds  a  year. 

This  is  a  government  that  has  nothing  to  fear.  It  needs  no  pro- 
clamations to  deter  people  from  writing  and  reaiiing.  It  needs  no 
political  fupedlition  to  fupport  it.  It  was  by  encouraging  difcuf- 
fion  and  rendering  the  prefs  free  upon  all  iubjedis  of  government, 
that  the  principles  of  government  became  iinderilood  in  America, 
and  the  people  are  now  enjoying  the  prefent  blefiings  under  it.  You 
hear  of  no  riots,  tumults  and  diforders  in  that  country  ;  becaufe 
their  exifts  no  cauie  to  produce  them. — Thofe  things  are  never  tlie 
effedi  of   freedom,    but  of  reilraint,  oppreifion    and    cxceflive  taxa- 

tiouv  - 

In  America,  there  is  not  that  clafs  of  poor  and  wretched  people 
that  are  fo  numerouOy  difperfed  all  over  England,  vvho  are  to  be 
told  by  a  proclamation,  that  tliey  are  happy  ;  and  this  is  in  a  great 
meafure  to  be  accounted  for,  not  by  the  difference  of  proclamations, 
but  by  the  difference  of  governments  and  the  difference  tDf  taxes  be- 
tween that  country  and  this.  What  the  labouring  people  of  that 
country  earn,  they  apply  to  their  own  ufe,  and  to  the  education  of 
their  children,  and  uo  not  pay  it  away  in  Uxes  as  fad  as  they  earn  ft. 


LETTERS  TO  MR.    SECRETARY   DUNDAS.     331 

to  fupport  court  extravntrance,  and  a  long  enormous  lift,  of  placemen 
and  ptnfioncTS  ;  and  befidcs  this,  they  have  learned  the  manly  doc- 
trine of  revercnciug  themfelves,  and  coofequently  of  refpe<5ling  each 
other  ;  and  they  laugh  at  tliofe  imaginary  beings  called  kings  and 
lords,  and  all  the  fraudulent  trumpery  of  courts. 

When  placemen  and  penfionersy  or  thofe  who  expe^  to  be  fuch, 
are  lavidi  in  praife  of  a  government,  it  is  not  a  fign  of  its  being  a 
good  one.  The  penfion-lill  alone  in  E%land  (fee  Sir  John  Sinclair's 
Hiilory  of  the  Reveirue,ipage  fix  of  the  Appendix)  is  one  hundred  and 
feven  thoufand  four  hundred  and  four  pounds,  which  is  more  than 
the  expences  of  the  whole  government  of  i\.merica  amount  to;  and  I 
am  now  more  convinced  than  before,  that  the  offer  that  was  made  to 
me  of  a  thoui?.iid  pounds  for  the  copy-right  of  the  fecond  part  of 
Rights  of  Man,  together  with  the  remaining  copy-right  of  the  firfl 
part,  vi-as  to  have  effe^ed,  by  a- quick  fupprcfiion,  what  is  now 
attempted  to  be  done  by  a  profecution.  The  couneftion  which  the 
perfon  who  made  that  offer  has  with  the  king's  printing-ofHce,  may 
furnifii  -part  of  the  means  of  enouirine  into  this  affair,  when*  the  mi- 
niftry  fhall  ple^fe  to  bring  their  profecution  to.  iffue.-, — But  to  return 
to  my  fubjeft. 

I  have  faid,  in  the  fecond  part  of  Rights  of  Man,  and  I  repeat  it 
here,  that  the  fervice  of  any  m.an,  whether  called  king,  prefident, 
fcnator,  legiflator  cr  any  thing  elie,  cannot  be  worth  nrore  to  any 
country,  in  tb.e  regular  rotine  of  office,  than  ten  tlroufand  pdihids 
per  annum.  We  have  a  better  man  in  Am'^rica^and  more  of  a'  gen- 
tleman than  any  king  I  ever  knew  of,  who  docs  not  occaiion  eveft 
half  that  expence  ;  for  though  the  falary  is  iixed  at  56151!  he  does 
not  accept  it,  and  it  is  only  the  iKcidaital  expences  that  are  -D.aid  out 
of  it.  The  name  by  which  a  man-is  called  is,  of  itfclf,  btrfan  empty 
thing.  It  is  worth  and  charafter  alone  which  can  render  him  vaiuu- 
hle,  for  without  this,  kings  and  lorda,  and  prelidents,  are  but 
jingling  names. 

But  v.ithout  troubling,  myfclf  about  conflitutions  of  govcrnmeiit"!- 
have  fliewn  in  the  fecond  part  of  Riglits  of  Man,  that  an  'alliance 
may  be  formed  between  England,.  France  and  Amcnca,  and'  tliat 
the  expences  of  government  in  England  may  be  pht"badk^  tb^'  oiie 
irUiUon  and  a  half,    viz.  -^  '-'^  «*  ;j-fijli.^i.f 

Civil  expence  of  government,         -  -  /^. 500,000'' 

jsth  .Army,  -  -  .  '^86,'6^c$" 

1q  no-NavT;,.        -  -  -  -  500^600 '■■ 

;r.  1.500,000- 


33^  PAINE^^    WORKS. 

And  even  this  ium  is  fifteen  times  greater  than  the  expences  cif 
governmenl  are  in  Araerica  ;  and  it  is  ah'b  greater  than  the  whole 
peace  cilabhihn;ent  of  IZngland  amdunted  to,  about  an  hundred 
years  ago.  80  much  has  the  weight  and  oppreflion  of  taxes  en- 
creafed  lince  the  levokition,    and  efpecially  fince  tiie  year  1 7 14. 

To  fiiew  that  the  fusi-af  roOjOOcL  is  fufficicrit  to  defray  all  the 
civi;  expences  of  government,,  i  have,  in  that  work  annexed  the 
follovs-ing  efiimate  for  any  co-.i;:tvy  of  the  fame  extent  as  England, 

In  the  fitil  place  three  hiindred  reprefentatives,  fairly  eledled,  are 
fufficient  for  ail  the  pvrpofes  to  which  legiflation  can  apply,  and  pre- 
ferable toalaryer  r.umber. 

If  then  an  allowance,  at  the  rate  of  five  hundred  pounds  per  an- 
num be  made  to  every  reprefentativc,  deducting  for  non-attendance, 
the  expence,  if  the  whole  number  attended  fix  months  each  year, 
would  be  -  -  -  Z**  75'^°^ 

The  ofiicial    departments  could  not  pofTibly  exceed    the 

following  number,  with   the  falaries  annexed,  viz. 
Three  ofiicers,  at  io,oool.  each,  ,  30,000 

Ten  ditto,  at  5,oool.  each,  50,000 

Twenty  ditto,  at  2,oool.  each,  40,000 

Forty  ditto,  at  i,oool.  each.  40,000 

Two  hundred  ditto,  at  500I.  each,  ioo,oco 


T|iree  hundred  ditto,  at  20cl.  each,  60,000 

Five  hundred  ditto,  at  lool.  each,  50,000 

Seven  hundred  ditto,  at  75I.  each,  52,000 


5,oool. 

each. 

2,000l. 

each. 

IjOOol. 

each. 

5001. 

each, 

20C1. 

each. 

lool. 

each. 

75l. 

each, 

r 


£'  497 '500 

If  a  nation  •  chofc,    it   might   deduct  four  per  cent,   from  all    the 

oiiices/  and' 'make  one  of  twenty  thoufand   pounds  per  annum,  and 

ilyie  the  perfon  wlio  would  fill  it,    king  or  majefly,    or  give  him  any 

ether  title. 

'  TakihcTj  however,  this  ium  of  one  million  and  an  half,  as  an 
abuiidant  fupply  for  all  the  expences  of  government  under  any  form 
vvhatevcr,  there  will  remain  a  furplus  of  nearly  fix  million  and  a  hal 
out  of  the  prefent  taxes,  after  paying  the  intereft  of  the  national 
dcbi, ;  and  1  have  fliewn  in  the  fecond  part  of  Rights  of  Man  Avhat  ap- 
pears to  me,  the  bed  mode  of  applying  the  jurplus  money  ;  for  I 
am  now  fp  caking  of  '  expences  and  favings,  and  not  of  fyftems  of 
crovernmtnt.  '■'^  ^■'"'■''-'4 

I  have  in  the  firlt  place,  eflimated   the  poor  rates  at  two  millions 
annually,  and  Ihcwn  that  the  firll  elFedual   flep  would  be  to  abolifh 


LETTER  TO  MR.  SECRETARY  DUNDAS.        333^ 

the  poor  rates  entirely  (which  would  be  a  faving  of  two  millions  to 
the  houfekeepers),  and  to  remit  four  millions  out  of  the  furplus  taxes 
to  the  poor,  to  be  paid  to  them  in  money  in  proportion  to  the  num- 
ber of  children  in  each  family,   and  the  number  of  aged  perfons. 

I  have  eflimated  the  number  of  perfons  of  both  fexes  in  England 
of  fifty  years  of  age  and  upwards  at  420,000,  and  have  taken  one 
third  of  this  number,    viz.    140,000  to  be  poor  people. 

To  fave  long  calculations,  1  have  taken  70,000  of  them  to  be  fifty 
years  of  age,  and  under  fixty  ;  and  the  other  to  be  fixty  years  and 
upwards  ;  and  to  allow  fix  pounds  per  annum  to  the  former  clafs, 
and  ten  pounds  per  annum  to  th«  latter.  The  expenec  of  which 
will  be,  £:  • 

Seventy  thoufand  perfons  at  61.  per  annum,  420,000 

Seventy  thoufand  perfons  at  loh  per  annum^  700,000 

_^.  I,  I  20, COG 

There  will  then  remain  of  the  four  millions  2,88o,oool.  I  have 
ftated  two  different  methods  of  appropriating  this  money.  The  one 
is  to  pay  it  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  children  in  each  family  at 
the  rate  of  three  or  four  pounds  per  annum  for  each  child  ;  the 
other  is,  to  apportion  ft  according  to  the  expence  of  living  in  differ- 
ent counties  :  but  in  either  of  thefe  cafes  it  would  together  with 
the  allowance  to  be  made  to  the  z/gt^.,  completely  take  'off  taxes 
from  one  third  of  all  the  families  in  England,  befides  relieving  all-,- 
the  other  families  from  the  burden,  of  poor  rates. 

The  whole  number  of  families  in  England,  lotting  five  fouls  to 
each  family,  is  one  million  four  hundred  thoufand,  of  which  take 
one  third,  viz.  d~.GG^(>(>6  to  be  poor  families  v/ho  now  pay  four  rnil- 
lions  of  taxes,  and  that  the  poorell  pays  at  Icaft  four  guineas  a  year  ; 
and  that  the  other  thirteen  millions  are  paid  by  the  other  two  thirds. 
The  plan,  therefore,  as  ftated  in  the  work  is  fird',  to  remit  or  pay, 
as  is  already  ftated,  this  fum  of  four  millions  to  the  poor,  becaufe  it 
is  impoffible  to  feparate  them  from  the  others  \\\  the  prcfcnt  mode  of 
collefting  taxes  on  articles  of  confumption  :  and,  fecondiy,  to  aboliHi 
the  poor  rates,  the  houfe  and  window-light  tr.x,  and  to  change  the 
commutation  tax  into  a  progrcffive  tax,  en  large  eilates,  the  parti- 
culars of  all  which  are  fet  fortli  in  tlie  work. 

I  will  conclude  this  part  of  my  letter  with  an  extract  from  the  fc- 
cond  part  of  Rights  of  Man,  whicli  Mr.  Dundas  (a  man  rolling  in 
luxury  at  the  expence  of  the  nation)  ha ;  bvajjd-jd  with  the  epith.t  of 
**  wicked.'' 


3 14  PAlNE's     WORKS. 

"  By  the  operation  of  this  plan,  the  poor  laws,  thofe  inflrumentJF 
of  civil  torture,  will  'oc  fuperceded,  and  the  wafteful  expence  of 
litigation  prevented.  The  hearts  of  the  humane  will  not  be  {hocked" 
hy  ragged  and  hungry  children,  and  perfons  of  feventy  and  eighty 
years  of  age,  begging  for  bread.  Tlie  dying  poor  v^^ill  not  be  drag- 
ged from  place  to  place,  to  breathe  their  laft,  as  a  reprifai  of  pa- 
rifh  upon  parifli.  Widows  will  have  a  maintenance  for  their  chil- 
dren, and  not  be  carted  avi^ay,  on  the  death  of  their  hufoands,  like 
culprits  and  criminals,  and  children  will  no  longer  be  confidered  as 
increafing  the  didrefles  of  their  parents.  The  haunts  of  the  wretched' 
will  be  known,  becaufe  it  will  be  to  their  advantage,  and  the 
number  of  petty  crimes,  the  offspring  of  poverty  and.  diftrefs,  will. 
be  leffened.  The  poor,  as  well  as  the  rich,  will  then  be  intereftcd 
in  the  fupport  of  government,  and  the  caufe  and  apprehenfion  of  riots, 
and  tumults  will  ceaic.  Ye,  who  fit  in  eafe,  and  folace  yourfelves  in 
plenty,  and  fuch  there  are  in  Turkey  and  RulTia,  as  well  as  in  I'^ng- 
land,  and  who  fay  to  yoi:rfelves,  are  lue  not  ivell  oJJ'P  have  ye  thought 
of  thefe  things  ?  when  ye  do,  ye  will  ceafe  to  fpeak  and  feel  for- 
yourfelvcs  alone. 

Rights  of  Man,  Part  II. 

After  this  remiffion  of  feur  millions  'be  made,  and  the  poor  rates- 
and  houfes  and  window-light  tax  be  aboliilied,  and  the  commutation 
t?!X  changed,  there  will  ilill  remain  nearly  one  million  and  an  half  of 
furplus  taxes  ;  and  as  by  an  alliance  between  England  and  France 
and  America,  armies  and  navies  will  in  a  great  meafure,  be  rendered- 
unneceffary,  and  as  men  who  have  either  been  brought  up  in,  or 
long  habited  to,  thofe  lines  of  life,  are  ftill  citizens  of  a  nation  in 
common  with  the  reil,  and  have  a  right  to  participate  in  all  plans  of 
national  benefit,  it  is  dated  in  that  work  (Rights  of  Man,  Part  II.); 
to  apply  annually  507^0001.  out  of  the  furplus  taxes  to  this  purpofe 
in  the  following  manner  : 
To  fifteen  thoufand  difhanded  foldiers,  3s.  per  week,  clear  of      £. 

of  deductions,  during  life  1 1  7,00c 

Additional  pay  to  the  remaining  foldiers  per  annum,  19,500- 

To  the  officers  of  the  dilbanded  corps,  during  hfe,thefumof  1 17,000 
To  fifteen  thoufand  difhanded  failoi's,  3s.  per  vy<jekj during 

li^<^j  117,000 

Additional  pay  to  the  remaining  failors,  1 0,500 

To  the  officers  of  the  difhanded  part  of  the  navy,  during 

^i^^^'j  II  7,000 

;f  .507,000 


BETTERS  TO  MR.  SECRETARY  DUNDAS. 


>D> 


The  limits  to  which  it  is  proper  to  confine  this  letter,  will  not  ad- 
mit of  my  entering  into  further  particulars.  I  addrefs  it  to  Mr.  Dun- 
,  das  becaufe  he  took  the  lead  in  the  debate,    and  he  wiflies,  I  fuppofe, 
•to  appear  confpicuous ;  but  the  purport  of  it  is  to  juftify  myfelf  from 
4he  ciiarge  which  Mr.  Adam  has  made. 

This  gentleman,  as  hss  been  obferved  in  the  beginning  of  this  let-.  • 
tcr,  coniiders  the  writings  of  Harrington,  More  and  Hume,  as 
juftiaable  and  legal  publications,  becaufe  tliey  reafoned  by  compa- 
rifon,  though  in  fo  doing  they  fliewed  plans  and  fyflems  of  govern- 
ment, not  only  different  from  but  preferable  to  thrt  of  England,  and 
he  accufes  me  of  endeavouring  to  confufe,  irillead  of  producing  a  fy^- 
tem  in  the  room  of  that  which  I  had  reafoned  by  comparifon  of  the 
rcprefentative  fyftem  againft  tlie  hereditary  fyllem  ;  but  I  have 
"gone  further  ;  for  I  have  produced  an  inflance  of  a  government 
cftablilhed  entirely  on  the  reprefentative  fyftem,  under  which  greater 
happinefs  is  enjoyed,  much  fewer  taxes  required,  and  much  higher 
credit  is  eftabliflied,  than  under  the  fyilem  of  government  in  Eng- 
land. The  funds  in  England  have  arifen  fince  the  war  only,  from  54I. 
to  97I.  and  they  have  been  down, fince  the  proclamation  to  87I.  where- 
as the  funds  in  America,    rofe  in  the  mean  time  from  lol.  to  120I. 

His  charge  againil  me  of,  "  dedroying  every  principle  of  fubordi- 
"nation,"  is  equally  as  groundlefs,  which  even  a  hngle  paragraph 
from  the  work  will  prove,    and  wliich  I  fhall  here  quote  : 

**  Formerly,  v/hen  divifions  arofe  refpe6ling  governm.ent,  recourfe 
was  had  to  the  fword,  and  a  civil  war  enfued.  That  favage  cui- 
tom  is  exploded  by  the  new  fyilem,  and  recourfe  is  had  to  a  na- . 
tional  conveniion.  Difcufiion,  and  the  general  will,  arbiti'ates  the 
queftion,  and  to  this  private  opinion  yields  with  a  good  grace,  and 
Drder  is  preferved  uninterrupted," 

Rights  of  Man,  Part.  H.  j  ,^^,|  j  ^^ 

That    two  different  charges  fliould  be  brought  at  the  fame  timCj  • 
the   one  by  a  member  of   the  legiflature,    for    not  doing  a   certain 
thing,    and    the    other  by  the  attorney-general   for   dcmg  it?j%,[;,^^ 
ftrange  jumble  of  contradidlion.     I  have  now  juRihed  myfelf,  or;tJho'v^ 
work  rather,  againft  the  firft  by  ftating  the  cafe  in   this  letter,  and, 
thejuftihcation  of  the  other  will  be  undertaken  in  its  proper  place. 
But  in  any  cafe  the  work  will  go  on. 

I  fliall  now  conclude  this  letter,  widi  faying  that  the  only  cb- 
jedlion  I  fovirld  againil  the  plan  and  principles  contained  in  the  fe- 
cond  part  of  the  Rights  of  Man  when  I  had  written  the  book  was 
that  the}'  would  bendrcially  intcreft  at  Icaft  ninety-nine  pcrfons  out 


33^  f^  A  IN  E  '  s    W  O  R  K  S. 

of  every  hundred  throughout  ihe  nation,  and  therefore  would  not 
leave  fufficient  room  for  men  to  acl  from  the  diredl  and  difmterefted 
principles  of -licnour  ;  but  the  .profecution  now  commenced  has  for- 
tunately remo-ved  that  (ibjedion,  and  the  approvers  and  protestors  of 
that  work  now  feel  the  immediate  impulfeof  honour,  added  to  that  of 
national  interefle 

I  am,   tdr.  Dun  das. 

Not  your  obedient  humble  fervant, 

But  to  the  contrary, 

THOMAS    PAINE 


THE 

DECLINE     AND      FALL 


OF     THE 


ENGLISH    Srsr^I  OF  FINANCE. 


**  On  the  verge  J    nay   even  in   the  guJph  of  bankrupt cy.^^ 

DEBATES     IN    PARLIAMENT, 


No' 


>TKING,  they  fay,  is  more  certain  than  death,  and  nothing 
more  uocertain  than  the  time  of  dying;  yet  we  can  always  fix  a  period 
beyond  which  man  cannot  Hve,  and  within  fome  moment  of  which 
he  will  die.  We  are  enabled  to  do  this,  not  by  any  fpirit  of  pro- 
phecy, or  forefight  into  the  event,  but  by  obfervation  af  wliat  has 
happened  in  all  cafes  of  human  or  animal  exiftence.  If  then  any 
other  fubjeft,  fuch,  for  inftance,  as  a  fyilem  of  finance,  exhibits  in 
its  progrefs  a  feries  of  fymptoms  indicating  decay,  its  final  diflblu- 
tion  Is  certain,  and  the  period  of  it  can  be  calculated  from  the  fymp- 
toms it  exhibits. 

Thofe  who  have  hitherto  written  on  the  Englifli  fyftem  of  finance 
f  the  funding  fyftem),  have  been  uniformly  impreffed  with  the  idea 
of  its  do wnfal  happening  yowf //Wif  or  other.  They  took,  however,  ' 
no  data  for  that  opinion,  but  expreffed  It  predi6lively,  or  merely  as 
opinion,  from  a  convidlion  that  the  perpetual  duration  of  fuch  a  fyf- 
tem was  a  natural  impolTibility.  It  is  in  this  manner  that  Doftor 
Price  has  fpoken  of  it;  and  Smith,  in  his  Wealth  of  Nations,  has 
fpoken  in  the  fame  manner  ;  that  is^  merely  as  opinion  without 
data.  "  The  progrefs,"  fays  .Smith,  "  of  the  enormous  debts,  which 
"  at  prefent  opprefs,  and  will  in  the  long-run  mojl  ptohaUy  ruin,  all 
**  the  great  nations  of  Europe  (he  fhould  have  {md  governments), 
"  has  been  pretty  uniform."  But  this  general  manner  of  fpeaking, 
though  it  might  make  fome  imp;refrion,  carried  with  it  no  convic- 
tion. 

It  is  not  my  intention  to  predid  any  thi/ig ;  but  I  will  fhew  from 
^ata  already  known,   from  fymptons   and  fa<5ls  which  the  EngHfli 
Vol.  II.  Xx 


3iB  ^AINE^s    WORKS. 

funding  fyftem  has  already  exhibited  pubh'cly,  that  it  will  not  <!dll* 
tinue  to  the  end  of  Ivlr.  Pitt's  h'fe,  {"uppofing  him  to  live  the  ufua* 
age  of  a  man.  How  much  foonerit  may  fail,  I  leave  to  others  to 
predial. 

Let  financiers  diveriify   fyftems  of  credit  as  they  will,  it  is  nevef- 
thelefs  true,   that  every  fyflem  of  credit  is  a  fyflcm  of  paper  money. 
Two  experiments  have  already  been  had  upon  paper  money  ;  the  one 
in  America,   the    other  in  France,      In    both  thofe  cafes  the  whole 
capital  was  emitted,  and  that  whole  capita*!,  which  in  America  was 
cali.d  continental  money,    and  in  France  affignats,    appeared  in   cir- 
culation ;    the  confequence  of  v.'hich  was  that  the  quantity  became  fo 
enormous,    and  fo  diiproportioned  to  the  quantity  of  population,  and 
to  the  quantity    of  objefts  upon  which  it    could  be  employed,   that 
the  market,,  if  I  may  fo  exprefs  it,  was  glutted  with  it,  and  the  value 
of  it  fell.      Becvv'een  five  and  fix   years  determined  the  fate  of  thofe 
experiments.     The  fame  fate  would  have  happened  to  gold  and  filver, 
could  gold  and  filver  have  been  iflued  in  the  fame  abundant  manner 
as  paper  had  been,    and  confined  within  the  country  as  paper  money 
always  is,  by  having  no  circulation  out  of  it  ;  or  to  fpeak  on  a  larger 
fcale,    the  fam.c  thing   would  happen  in  the  world,    could  the  worI<i 
be  glutted  with  gold  and  filver,    a'i  America  and    France  has  beea 
with  paper. 

The  Englifh  fy'ilem  differs  from  that  cf  An:erica  and  France  ill 
liiis  one  particular,  that  its  capital  is  kept  out  of  fight;  that  is,  it 
does  not  appear  in  circulation.  Were  the  whole  capital  of  the  na- 
tional debt,  wliich  at  the  time  I  write  this  is  almoll  four  hundred 
m.illion  pounds  (lerling,  to  be  emitted  in  affignats  or  bills,  and  that 
whole  quantity  put  into  circulation,  as  was  done  in  America  and  in 
France,  tliofe  Eaglifli  alTignats,  or  bills,  would  foon  fink  in  value 
as  thofe  of  America  and  Fraace  have  done;  and  that  in  a  greater  de- 
gree, becaufe  thfr  quantity  of  them  would  be  more  difproportioned 
to  the  quantity  of  population  in  England,  than  was  the  cafe  in  either 
of  the  other  two  countries.  A  nominal  pound  flerhng  in  fuch  bills 
would  not  be  worth  one  peuny. 

But  though  the  Engliih  fyiicm,  by  thu$  keeping  the  capital  cut 
of  fight,  is  preferved  from  hafty  dcilru6lion,  as  in  the  cafe  of 
America  and  France,  it  ncverthelcfs  approaches  the  fame  fate,  and! 
will  arrive  at  it  with  the  fame  certainty,  though  by  a  fiower  pro- 
gre^y.  The  difference  is  altogether  in  the  degree  cf  fpeed  by  which 
th«^'two  fyfiiema  approach  their  fate,  which,  to  fpeak  in  round  num- 
bers,   is  as  twenty  is  to  one  ;    that  is,  the  Englidi  fyft&sn,   tliai    of 


ON  THE  ENGLISH    SYSTEM   OF  FINANCE.     339 


7\ 


funding  the  capital  inftead  of  iiruing  it,  contained  within  itfelf  a  ca^ 
pacfty  of  enduring  twenty  times  longer  than  the  fyltems  adopted  by 
America  and  France  ;  and  at  the  end  of  that  tinie  it  would  arrive  at 
the  fame  common  grave,    the  Potter's  Field,  of  paper  money. 

The  datum,  I  take  for  this  propofition  of  twenty  to  one,  is  the 
difference  between  a  capital  and  the  intereft  at  five  per  cent.  Twenty 
times  the  intereft  is  equal  to  the  capital.  The  accumulation  of  paper 
money  in  England  is  in  proportion  to  the  accumulation  of  the  iniereil 
upon  every  new  loan  ;  and  therefore  the  progrefs  to  the  dilTolution 
is  tv/enty  times  flower  than  If  the  capital  were  to  be  emitted  and  put 
into  circulation  immediately.  Every  twenty  years  in  the  Engliih 
fyftem  is  equal  to  one  year  in  tlie  French  and  American  fyflcms. 

Having  thus  Hated  the  duration  of  the  two  fyftems,  that  of  fund- 
ing upon  intereft,  and  that  of  emitting  the  whole  capital  without 
funding,  to  be  as  tweaty  to  one,  1  come  to  examine  the  fymptoms  of 
decay,  approaching  to  difTolution,  that  the  Engllfh  fyftem  has  al- 
ready exhibited,  an.d  to  compare  them  with  hmilar  fyifems  m  the 
"French  and  American  fyfteras. 

The  Englifh  funding  fyilem  began  one  hundred  years  ago  ;  hi 
which  time  there  has  been  fix  v^'ars,  including  the  war  that  ended  in 
1697. 

1.  The  war  that  ended,  as  I  have  juft  ("aid,  in  1697. 

2.  The  war  that  began  in  i  702-. 

3.  The  war  that  began  in  I739« 

4.  The  war  that  began  in  1756. 

5.  The  American  war,  that  began  in  1775. 

6.  The  prefent  v.ar,    that  began  in  179.3. 

The  national  debt,  at  the  conclufion  ©f  the  war,  which  ended  In 
1697,  VN-as  twenty  one  millions  and  an  half.  (See  Smith's  Wealth  of 
Nations,  chapter  on  Public  Debts.)  We  nov.'^fee  it  approaching  fail  to 
fourhundred  millions-.  If  between  thefetwo  extremes  of  twenty-one  mil- 
lions and  four  hundred  millions,  embracing  the  feveral  expences  of  all 
the  Including  ware,  there  exifts  fome  common  ratio  that  will  afcertain 
arithmetically  the  amount  of  the  debts  at. the  end  of  each  war,  as  cer- 
tainly as  the  faft  is  now  known  to  be,  that  ratio  will  in  like  manner 
d  termlne  what  the  amount  of  the  debt  will  be  \n  all  future  wars,  and  ' 
vs' 111  afcertain  the  period  within  which  the  funding  fyftem.  will  expire 
in  a  bankruptcy  of  the  government  ;  for  the  ratio  I  allude  to  is  the 
ratio  which  the  nature  of  the  thing  has  eltablilhed  for  Itfelf. 

Hitherto  no  Idea  has  been  entertained  that  any  fuch  ratio  exifted, 
or  could  exlft,  that  could  determine  a  problen*  of  this  kind,  thativ 


340  P  A  I  N  E  '  5    W  O  R  K  S. 

that    could   afcertain,  without    having  any  knowledge   of  the   fadl, 
what  the  expence  of  |iny  formtr  war  had  been,    or  what  the  expence ; 
i  of  any  future  war  would  be  ;   but  it  is  neverthelefs   true  that  fuch  a 
ratio  dots  rxift,  as  I  fnall  fliew,    and  alfo  the  mode  of  applying  it. 

ihe  rati^  i  allude  to  is  not  in  arithmetical  progreffion  like  the 
numbers 

2,  3,  4,  5,  6,  7,  8,  9  ; 
nor  yet  in  geometrical  progrefiion,  like  the  numbers 
2,  4,  8,   16,  52,  (^4,   128,  256; 
but  is  in  the  feries  of  one  half  upon  each  preceding  number  ;    like  the 
numbers 

8,  12,   18,  27,  40,  60,  90,   135. 

Any  perfon  can  perceive  that  the  fecond  number,  12,  is  produced 
by  the  preceding  number,  8,  and  half  8  ;  and  that  the  third  number, 
18,  is  in  like  manner  produced  by  the  preceding  number,  12,  and 
half  12  ;  and  fo  on  for  the  reft.  They  can  alfo  fee  how  rapidly  the 
fums  increafe  as  the  ratio  proceeds.  The  difference  between  the  twojfirft 
numbers  is  but  four;  buc  the  difference  between  the  two  laft  is  forty- 
five  :  and  from  tlience  they  may  fee  w  ith  what  immenfe  rapidity  the 
national  debt  has  increafed,  and  will  continue  to  increafe,  till  it  ex- 
ceeds the  ordinary  powers  of  calculation,    and  lofes  itfelf  in  cyphers. 

1  come  now  to  apply  the  ratio  as   a  rule  to  determine  all  the  cafes. 

I  began  with  the  war  that  ended  in  1697,  which  was  the  war  in 
which  the  funding  fyftem  began.  The  expence  of  that  war  was 
twenty-one  millions  and  an  half.  In  order  to  afcertain  the  expence 
of  the  next  war,  I  add  to  twenty-one  millions  and  an  lialf,  the  half 
thereof  (ten  millions  and  three  quarters),  which  makes  thirty-two 
millions  and  a  quarter  for  the  exper.ce  of  that  war.  This  thirty- 
two  millions  and  a  quarter,  added  to  the  former  debt  of  twenty-one 
millions  and  an  half,  carries  the  national  debt  to  fifty-three  millions 
and  three  quarters.  Smith,  in  his  chapter  on  Public  Debts,  fays, 
the  national  debt  was  at  this  time  fifty-three  millions. 

I  proceed  to  afcertain  the  expence  of  the  next  war,  that  of  1739, 
%  i'dding,  as  in  the  former  cafe  one  half  to  the  expence  of  the  pre- 
ceding war.  The  expence  of  the  preceding  war  was  thirty-two  mil- 
lions  and^  a  quarter;  for  the  fake  of  even  numbers,  fay  thirty-two 
niiilion^;  tb€  half  of  which  (16)  makes  forty-eight  millions  fbr  the 

expence  of  that  war. 

I  proceed  to  afcertain  the  expence  of  the  war  of  1756,  by  adding, 
iccoTding  to  the  ratio,  one  half  to  the  expence  of  the  preceding  war. 
Th«  cxpehce  of  the  preceding  war  was  taken  at  48  millions  the  half 
of  which  (24)  makes  72  millions  fcr  the  expence  of  that  war.  Smkh 


ON  THE  ENGLISH  SYSTEM  OF   nNANCE.     34^- 

(chapter  on  Public  Debts)    fays,   the  expence  of  the  war  1756  wr-s 
72  millions  and  a  quarter. 

I  proceed  to  afcertain  tlie  espence  of  the  America  war,  of  I77f» 
by  adding,  as  in  the  former  cafes,  one  half  to  tl:e  expence  of  the 
preceding  war.  The  expence  of  the  preceding  war  v/as  72  millions, 
the  half  o^  (36)  makes  108  millions  for  the  expence  of  that  war. 
In  the  Lift  edition  of  Smith  (chapter  on  Public  Debto)  he  fays,  the 
expence  of  the  American  war  was  more  (ban  an  hundred  millions. 

I  come  now  to  afcertain  the  expence  of  the  prefent  w^ar,  fuppofing 
il  to  continue   as   long  as  former  wars  have  done,   and  the  fundmg 
fyftem   not  to   break  up   before   that  period.     The  expence  of  the 
preceding  war  w-as  108  millions,   the  half  of  which  (54)  makes.  162 
millions  for  the  expence  of  the  prefent  war.   It  gives  fymptons  of  go- 
ing biyond  this  fum,    fuppohng  the  funding  fyftem  not  to  break  up  ; 
i3r  the  loans  of  the  laft  year  and  of  the  prefent  year,  are  twenty -two 
miUions  each,  which  exceeds  the  ratio  comparfed^vith  the  loans  of  the 
preceding  war.     It  will  not  be  from  the  inability  of  procuring  loans 
that   the  fyftem    will    break  up.       On   the   contrary,   it  is  the  fa 
cility  with  which  loans  can  be  procured,  that  haftens  that  event.  The  > 
loans  are  altogether  paper  tranfaftions  ;  and  it  is  the  excefs  of  thciu 
that  brings  on,   with  accelerating   fpeed,  that   progreflive  deprecia-" 
tion  of  funded  paper  money  that  will  dilTolve  the  funding  fyftem. 

I  proceed  'to  afcertain  the  expence  of  future  wars,  and  I  do  this 
merely  to  fhew  the  impoffibility  of  the  continuance  of  the  finding 
fyftem,  and  the  certainty  of  its  dilTolution. 

The  expence  of  the  next  war  after  the  prefent  war,  according  to  clic  . 
ratio  that  has  afcertained  the   preceding  cafes  will  be  —  243  millicns 

Expence  of  the  fecond  war  —  36^4. 

■  tliird  war  —    54^ 

fourth  war  —  «^  ^9 

ftfth  war  —1.228 


3200  jnillions 
which,  at  only  4  per  cent,  will  require  taxes  to  the  nominal  amount 
of  one  hundred  twenty-eight  millions  to  pay  the  annual  mtereft,  be- 
fides  the  inteveft  of  the  prefent  debt,  and  the  expences  of  government, 
which  are  not  included  in  this  account.  Is  there  a  man  fo  mad»  fo 
ftupid,    as  to  fuppofe  this  fyftem  can  continue  ?  .    . 

When  I  fiift  conceived  the  idea  of  feeking  for  fome  common  ratio 
that  fhould  apply  as  a  rule  of  meafurement  to  all  the  cafes  of  the 
funding  fyftem,  fo  far  ?.s  to  afcertuirv  the  fevcral  ftagcs  of  it:3  approach 


342  PAINE'?    W  a  R  K  S. 

to  difTolution,  I  had  no  expedlation  that  any  ratio  could  be  found  that 
would  apply  with  fo  much  exa6lncfs  as  this  does.  I  was  led  to  the 
idea  merely  by  obferviiig  that  the  funding  fyilem  was  a  thing  in 
continual  progrefiion,  and  that  whatever  was  in  a  ilate  of  progrefiion 
might  be  fuppofed  to  admit  of,  at  leaft,  fome  general  ratio  of  mea- 
furement,  that  would  apply  without  any  very  great  variation.  But 
who  could  have  fuppofed  that  falling  fyllems,  or  falling  opinions,  ad- 
mitted of  a  ratio  apparently  as  true  as  the  defcent  of  falling  bodies 
I  have  not  made  the  ratio,  any  more  than  Newton  made  the  ratio  of 
gravitation.  I  have  only  difcovered  it,  and  explained  the  mode  of 
applying  it. 

To  fhew  at  one  view  the  rapid  progreiHon  of  the  funding  fyftem  to 
deftruftion,  and  to  expofe  the  folly  of  thofe  who  blindly  believe  iu 
its  continuance,  or  who  artfully  endeavour  to  im-pofe  thac  belief  upon 
others,  I  exhibit  in  the  annexed  table,  the  e^:pence*  of  each  of  the  fijc- 
wars  lince  the  funding  fyilem  began,  as  afcertained  by  the  ratio,  and 
the  expence  of  fix  wars  yet  to  come,   afcertained  by  the  fame  ra.tio. 


FIRST     SIX 

wa;cs. 

SECOND 

SIX    WARS, 

I 

- 

2  1   millions 

I 

- 

- 

243   millions 

2 

- 

-  33   millions 

2 

- 

- 

364  millions 

5 

- 

48   millions 

3 

- 

- 

546  millions. 

4 

- 

-   72   millions* 

4 

- 

- 

819  millions 

5 

- 

loS   millions 

5 

- 

- 

1228  millions 

6 

- 

162   millions 

.6 

- 

- 

1842  millions 

Total     444  Total     5042  millions 

Thofe  who  are  acquainted   with   the   power  with    which  even  a 

*  The  aBucd  expence  of  the  'war  of  I'j^g  did  not  come  up  to  the  fum 
afcwtained  by  the  ratio.  But  as  that  luhich  Is  thenatural  dfpofitlon  of  a 
thing,  as  it  is  the  natural  difpofition  of  a  fir  earn  of  zvater  to  defend,  imll, 
if  impeded  in  its  courfes  overcsme  by  a  neiv  ejhrt  ivhat  it  had  Infi  by  that 
impediment,  fo  it  ivas  tvith  refpect  to  this  <war  and  the  next  [ij ^6),. 
tcdien  tblkaively  ;  fcr  the  expenci  of  the  nvar  1756  refored  the  eqitili* 
hrium  of  the 'ratio,  as  fully  as  if  it  had  not  been  impeded.  A  circumflance 
that  fethico  io -prove  the  truth  of  the  ratio  more  fully  than  if  the  interrup- 
tion hadnoi  taken  place.  The 'war  of  l']^^  luas  languid:  the  efforts  'were 
belotv  the  value  of  money  at  that  time  :  for  the  ratio  is  the  meafure  of  the 
depridatian '  of-nmney  in  confequence  of -the funding  fyfleni ;  or  luhat  comes 
to  the  fame  end,  it  is  the  meafure  of  theincreafe  of  paper.  Every  addi- 
timal  quantrfy'of  it,  lokether  in  bank-no! es  or  otherivife,  diminfhes  the 
rl'al,    though  not  the  nominal,,  vcilue  of  the  former  quantity. 


ON  THE  ENGLISH  SYSTEM  OF  FINANCE.     345 

fmall  ratio,  ading  in  progreflion,  multiplies  in  a  long  feries,  will  fee 
jiothing  to  wonder  at  in  this  table.  Thofe  who  are  not  acquainted 
with  that  fubjed,  and  not  knowing  what  elfe  to  fay,  may  be  inclined 
to  deny  it.  But  it  is  not  their  opinion  one  way,  nor  mine  the  other, 
that  can  influence  the  event.  The  table  exhibits  the  natural, 
march  of  the  funding  fyftem  to  its  irredeemable  diifolution. — Sup- 
pofing  the  prefent  government  of  England  to  continue,  and  to  go  on 
as  it  has  gone  on  fmce  the  funding  fyftem  began,  I  would  not  give 
twenty  Ibillings  for  one  hundred  pounds  in  the  funds  to  be  paid  twenty 
years  hence.  I  do  not  'fpeak  this  prediftively  ;  I  produce  the  data 
upon  which  that  belief  is  founded  :  and  which  data  it  is  every  body's 
intereil  to  know,  who  have  any  thing  to  do  with  the  funds,  or  who 
are  going  to  bequeath  property  to  their  defcendants  to  be  paid  at  a 
future  day. 

Perhaps  it  may  be  aflced,  that  as  governments  or  minifters  pro- 
ceeded by  no  ratio  in  making  loans  or  incurring  debts,  and  as  nobody- 
intended  any  ratio,  or  thought  of  any,  how  does  it  happen  that  there 
is  one  ?  I  anfwer,  that  the  ratio  is  founded  in  neceffity;  and  I  now 
go  to  explain  what  that  neceffity  is. 

It  will  always  happen,  that  the  price  of  labour,  or  of  the  pro- 
duce of  labour,  be  that  produce  what  it  may,  will  be  in  proportion 
to  the  quantity  of  money  in  a  country,  admitting  things  to  take 
their  natural  courfe.  Before  the  invention  of  the  funding  fyftem, 
there  was  no  other  money  than  gold,  and  lilver  ;  and;  as  nature 
gives  out  thofe  metals  wit>»  a  fparing  hand,  and  in  regular  annual 
quantities  from  the  mines,  the  feveral  prices  of  things  were  propor- 
tioned to  the  quantity  of  money  at  that  time,  and  fo  nearly  ftationary 
as  to  vary  but  little  in  any  fifty  or  fixty  years  of  that  period. 

"When  the  funding  fyftem  began,  a  fubftitute  for  gold  and  fiU'cr 
began  alfo.  That  fubftitute  was  paper  ;  and  the  quantity  of  it  ,in- 
creafed  as  the  quantity  of  interelt  increafed  upon  accumulated  lonnt. 
This  appearance  of  a  new  and  additional  fpecies  of  money  in  the  na- 
tion foon  began  fo  break  the  relative  value  which  money  and  thi' 
things  it  will  purchafe  bore  to  each  other  before.  Every  thing  rofc 
in  price  ;  but  tlue  rife  at  firft  was  little  and  flow,  like  the  difFercjicc 
in  units  between  the  two  firft  numbers,  8  and  12,  compared  ,>vith 
the  two  laft  mimbers,  90  and  135,  in  the  table.  It  was  hovveycv 
fnfficicnt  to  make  itfelf  confiderably  felt  in  a  large  tranfadiion.  Wlicn 
therefore  government,  by  engaging  in  a  new  war,  required  a,ne\v 
lonn,  it  was  obliged  to  make  a  higher  loan,  than  the  (pr^^er ,]f\ai?*Vto. 
balance  iheiucreafed  price  to  which  things  had  rifen ;  aadas  tjbat  new 


BU  P  A  I  N  E  '  s    W  O  R  K  S* 

.  loan  inci^afcd  the  quantity  of  paper  in  proportion  to  the  new  quantity 
of  interefb,  it  carried  the  price  of  things  ftill  higher  than  before.  The 
next  loan  was  again  higher,  to  balance  that  further  incredied  price  ; 
2nd  all  this  in  the  fame  manner  though  not  in  the  fame  degree,  that 
every  new  emiflion  of  continental  money  in  America,  or  of  aflignats 
in  France,  were  greater  than  the  preceding  emiffion,  to  make  head 
agamft  the  ndvance  cfprices,  till  the  combat  could  be  maintained  no 
longer.  Herein  is  founded  the  neceflity  of  which  I  havejull  fpoken. 
That  neceiTity  proceeds  \vith  accelerating  velocity,  and  the  ratio  I 
have  laid  down  is  the  meafure  of  that  acceleration  ;  or,  to  fpeak  the 
technical  language  of  the  fubjeft,  it  is  the  meafure  of  the  increafmg 
depreciation  of  funded  paper  money,  which  it  is  impoffible  to  pre- 
vent, while  the  quantity  of  that  money  and  of  bank  notes  continues 
to  multiply.  What  el(e  but  this  can  account  for  the  difference  be- 
tween one  war  colling  21  millions,  and  another  war  cofting  160 
millions  ^ 

The  difference  cannot  be  accounted  for  on  the  fcore  of  extraordi- 
nary efforts  or  extraordinary  achievements.  The  war  that  coll  2 1 
millions  was  the  war  of  the  confederates,  hillorically  called  the  grand 
alh'ance,  confiding  of  Englaud,  Auftria,  and  Holland,  in  the  time 
of  William  the  third,  againft  Louis  the  Fourteenth,  and  in  which 
the  confederr.tcs  were  vidorious.  The  prefent  is  a  war  of  a  much 
greater  confederacy— a  confederacy  of  England,  Anllria,  Fruflia, 
the  German  Empire,  Spain,  Holland,  Naples,  and  Sardinia,  eight 
powers  againft  the  French  Republic  fingly,  and  the  Republic  has 
beaten  the  whole  confederacy. — But  to  return  to  r^y  fubjeft. — 

It  ?s  faid  in  England,  that  the  value  of  paper  keeps  equal  with  the 
value  of  gold  and  filver.  But  the  cafe  is  not  rightly  ftated  :  for  the 
fa6t  is,  that  the  paper  has  pulled  doiun  the  value  of  gold  and  filver  to 
level  with  itfelf.  Gold  and  filver  will  not  purchafe  fo  much  of  any 
purchafable  article  at  this  day  as  if  no  paper  had  appeared,  nor  fo 
much  as  it  will  in  any  country  in  Europe  where  there  is  no  paper. 
How  long  this  hanging  together  of  m.oney  and  paper  will  continue, 
makes  a  new  cafe  ;  becaufe  it  daily  expofes  the  fyftem  to  fudden 
death,  independent  of  the  natural  death  it  would  otherwife  fuffer.  . 

I  confider  the  funding  fyilem  as  being  now  advanced  into  the  laft 
twenty  years  of  its  exiftence.  The  fingle  circumftance,  wefe  there 
no  other,  that  a  war  fhould  now  coll  nominally  one  hundred  and 
iixty  millions,  which  when  the  fyftem  began  coll  but  twenty-one  mil- 
lions, or  tnat  tP.c  loan  for  one  year  only  (including  the  loan  to  the 
emperor)   fhculd  now  be    nominally  greater  than  the  whole  expencc 


ON  THE  ENGLrSH  SYSTEM  OF  FINANCE.     345 

of  that  war  llievvs  the  ftate  of  depreciation  to  which  the  funding 
fyllem  has  arrived.  Its  depreciation  is  in  the  proportion  of  eight 
for  one,  compared  with  the  value  of  its  money  when  the  fyflem  be- 
gan ;  wiiich  h  the  ftatc  the  French  aflignats  flood  a  year  ago  (March 
1795),  compared  with  gold  and  filver.  It  is  therefore  tliat  I  fay, 
that  the  Enghfh  funding  fyllem,  has  entered  in  the  laft  twenty  years 
of  its  exiftence,  comparing  each  twenty  years  of  the  Englifn  iyllem 
with  every  fingle  year  of  the  Aincrican  and  French  fyllems  as  before 
flated. 

Again,  fuppofing  the  prefjnt  war  to  clofe  as  former  wars  have 
done,  and  without  producing  either  revolution  or  reform  in  England, 
another  war,  at  lead,  mull  be  looked  for  in  the  fpace  of  the  twenty 
years  I  allude  to  ;  for  it  has  never  yet  happened  that  twenty  years 
have  paffed  off  without  a  war,  and  tliat  more  efpecially  fmce  the 
Enghfh  government  has  dabbled  in  German  politics,  and  ftiewn  a  dil- 
pofition  to  infult  the  world,  and  the  world  of  commerce,  witli  her 
Davy.  That  next  war  will  carry  the  national  debt  to  very  nearly 
feven  hundred  milliors,  the  intereil  of  which,  at  four  per  cent,  will  be 
twenty-eight  millions  befides  the  taxes  for  the  (then)  expences  df 
government,  which  will  increafe  in  the  fame  proportion,  and  which 
will  carry  the  taxes  to  at  leaft  forty-miUions  5  and  if  another  war  only 
begins,  it  will  quickly  carry  them  to  above  fifty  ;  for  it  is  in  the  laft 
twenty  years  of  the  funding  fyflem,  as  in  the  lafl  year  of  the 
American  and  French  fyftems  Vv'ithout  funding,  that  all  the  great 
fliocks  begin  to  operate. 

I  havejufl  mentioned  that  paper,  In  England  has  pulkd dotvn  the 
value  of  gold  and  filver  to  a  level  with  ttfciij  and  that  this  puIUng-  doivn 
of  gold  and  filver  money  has  created  the  appearance  of  paper  money 
keeping  up.  The  fame  thing,  and  the  fame  mifiake,  took  place  in 
America  and  in  France,  and  continued  fcr  a  confiderable  tinie  after 
the  commencement  of  their  fyflem  of  paper  ;  and  the  a6luai  depre- 
ciation of  money  was  hidden  under  that  miilake. 

It  was  faid  in  America,   at  that  time,  that  every  thing  was  becom- 
ing dear  ;  but  gold  and  filver  could  then  buy   thofe  dear  ^cti^lgs.np^,.^ 
cheaper  than  paper  could  ;  and  therefore  it  v/as  not  called  deprecia- 
tion.    Theidea  of  ^i'^zr«£/}  eflabhflied  itfelf  for  the  idea  of  deprccia- 
ation.     The  fame  was  the  cafe  in  France.     Though  even/  tlyng  rofe.,  ^ 
in  price  foon  after  affignats  appeared,  yet  thofe  dear  articles  coiild,b?  ^„, 
purchafcd  no  cheaper  with  gold  and  filver  than  with  paper,  and  it  was^ 
only  faid  that  things  were  di^ar.      The  fame  is  flill  the  language  ij|. , 
Vol.  IT.  Y-v... 


S46  r  A  I  N  E  '  s     W  O  R  K  S. 

England.  They  called  it  dcanieji.  But  tlicy  will  icon  f.sid  that  it- 
is  an  adual  depreciation,  and  that  this  depreciation  is  the  efFcd  of 
the  funding  fyftem  ;  which,  by  crowdir.g  fuch  a  continually-increaf- 
ing  mais  of  paper  into  circulation,  carries  down  the  value  of  gold 
and  filver  with  it.  But  geld  and  fdver  wi'l,  in  the  long  run,  revolt 
r.gainfl  depreciation,  imd  fcparate  froni  the  \alue  o^  paper  ;  for  the 
progrefs  of  all  h;ch  fviUtns  appearo  to  be,  lliat  the  jsaper  will  take 
the    command  in  the  beginnirig,   and  gold  and  filver  in  the  end. 

But  this  fucceiTion  in  tlie  command  of  gold  and  hlver  over  paper, 
makes  .a  crihs  f\ir  more  cventfiil  to  the  funding  fyll^in  than  to  any 
other  f\  flem  upon  which  paper  can  be  ifTucd  ;  for,  ftricrly  fpeaking, 
it  is  not  a  crifis  of  danger,  but  a  fyinpton  of  death.  It  is  a  death 
ftroke  to  the  fuadur'-  fydcm.  It  is  a  revolution  in  the  v/hole  of  its 
aiiairs. 

If  paper  be  ilTucd  wiihout  being  funded  upon  intereft,  emiffions  of 
it  can  be  contiiuitd  after  the  value  of  it  fcj)Lrates  from  gold  and  iilver, 
as  we  have  feen  in  the  two  cafes  of  Americd  and  France.  But  the 
lundini''  fyllem  relh  :-.hogetu^n-  upon  the  vahie  of  paper  being  equal  to 
gold  and  idver  ;  v/hich  will  be  as  long  as  the  pap.'r  can  continue  car- 
rying down  the  value  of  gold  and  hlver  to  the  fame  level  to  which 
itfclfdefcends,  and  no  longer.  But  even  in  tiii^  flate,  that  of  defcend- 
ing  equally  together,  the  miniiier,  whoever  he  may  be,  will  find 
himfelf  befet  with  accumulating  difficulties  ;  becaiife  the  loans  and 
taxes  voted  for  the  fervicc  of  each  cnhiing  year  v.'ill  wither  in  liis 
hands  before  the  year  expires,  or  before  they  can  be  applied.  Thiq 
will  fpr^e  IJ*i'.  to  liave  v^ccurfe  to  emifnons  of  what  are  called  ex- 
clieqiier  and  navy  bill?,  v^hich,  by  fiili  increafmg  the  inafs  of  paper 
in  circulation,  v.  ill  drive  on  the  depreciation  ilili  more  ra;)idly. 
,  It  c.ogbt  to  be  knov.-n  that  taxes  in  Ihigland  arc  not  paid  in  gold 
and  filvcr, -but  \\\  paper  (bank  notes).  Every  perfon  who  pays  any 
confidcrabre  quantity  of  taxes,  uich  as  maltlters,  brewers,  diilillers  (I 
appeal  for  the  truth  cf  it  to  any  of  the  collectors  of  excife  in  England, 
or  to  Mr.  Whitebread},  knovv-s  this  to  be  the  cafe.  There  is  not  gold 
and  filver  enough  hi  the  nation  to  pay  the  taxes  in  coin,  as  T  fhall 
(hew  ;  and  confequently  tliere  is  not  money  enough  in  the, bank  to 
pav  the  notes.  The  int^.r-cft  of  ti^iC  national  funded  debt  is  paid  at 
the  bank  in  the  ftme  kii:d  of  paper  \\\  which  the  taxes  are  colleded. 
When  people  find,  as  tliey  v/ill  findj  a  refervednefs  among  each 
other  in  p-ivinT  o-old  and  hiver  for  bank  notes,  or  the  leail  preference 
for  the  former  over  the  latter,  they  will  go  for  payment  to  the,bank> 
iyb^-dhey  have  a  right  to  go.     They  vriil  do  this  as  a  meafiire..of 


ON  THE, -ENGLISH  SYSTEM  OF  FINANCE       yj^n 

prudence,  enclionc  for  himfelf,  and  the  triuli  or  delufion  of  the  fund- 
ing fyllem  will  be  then  proved. 

I  hav6  f-ild  in  the  foregoing  paragraph  that  there  is  not  gold  and 
filver  enough  in  tlie  nation  to  pay  the  taxes  in  coin,  and  conlequently 
that  there  cannot  be  enonsrh  in  the  bank  to  oay  the  notes.      As  I  6.0 
not  choofe  to  re  11  any  thinj^  upon  affcrtion,  I  appeal  for  the  truth  of 
this  to  the   publications  of    Mr.  Ed:rn  (now  called    lordAuckhnd}, 
and    George  Chalmers,    fecretary  to   the  board  of  trade   and   plan- 
tation,  of  which  Jenklnfon    (now  called  Lord  Hawkefbury),  is  pre 
iident.       [Thefe  fort  of  folks  change  their  names  fo  often,  that  it  1 
as  difiicult  to  know  them  as  a  thief^-      Chalmers  gives  the  quantit 
of  gold  and  lilver  coin  from  the  returns  of  coinage  at  the  mint  ;  and, 
after  deducting  for  the  light  gold  rccoined,    fays,  tliat  the  amount  of 
gold  and  filver  coin  is  about  iivetity  millions.   He    had  better  not  have 
proved  this,    efpecially  if  he  had  refle'^ed,    t\\zt  pullic    credit  is  fuffi- 
eion  ajletp.     The  quantity  is  much  too  little. 

Of  this  twenty  millions  f  which  Is  not  a  fourth  part  of  the  quantity 
of  gold  and  filver  there  is  va  France,  as  Is  ihewn  in  Mr.  Neckar's 
Treatlfe  on  the  Admiuillration  of  the  Finances]  three  millions  at 
leall  muft  be  fuppofcd  to  be  in  Ireland,  fome  in  Scotl*id,  and  In  the 
V/ell  Indies,  Newfoundland,  &c.  The  quantity  therefore  in  E'.lg- 
land  cannot  be  more  than  [  6  millions,  which  Is  four  millions  lefs  thai! 
tlic  amount  of  the  tuxes.  But  admitting  there  to  be  fixteen  mlll^dnpv 
not  more  than  a  fourth  part  thereof  (four  millions)  can  be  in  London, 
when  it  is  confidered  that  every  city,  town,  village,  and  fann-houfc 
in  the  nation  muil  have  a  part  of  it,  and  that  all  the  great  manufac- 
tories, which  moll  require  cafh,  are  out  of  London.  Of  this  four 
millions  In  London,  every  banker,  merchant,  tradefman,  'i'[\  fhort 
every  individual  mud  have  fome.  He  mull  be  a  poor  fhop-keepcr 
indeed,  who  has  not  a  fe.v  guineas  in  his  till.  The  quantity  of  cafli 
therefore  In  the  bank  can  never,  on  the  evidence  of  circumftance,  be 
fo  much  as  two  millions  ;  moll  probably  not  more  than  one  million  ; 
and  on  th's  flender  twig,  always  liable  to  be  broken,  hangs  the  whole 
funding  fyfttm  of  four  hu'idred  m.illions,  bt  fides  many  millions,  \\\ 
bank  notes.  The  fum  in  the  bank  is  not  fulficlent  to  pay  one- 
fourth  of  only  one  year's  interell  of  the  national  debt,  were  the  cre- 
ditors to  demand ♦fjayment  in  cafli,  or  to  demand  cafn  for  the  hank- 
notes  in  which  tlie  Interell  is  paid.  A  circundlance  always  liable  to 
happen.- 

One  of  the  anuifements  that  has  kept  up  the  farce  of  the  fundin<i' 
fydem  r?,   that  the  IntCrsft  is  regularly  paid.     Cut  as  the  ia^tJ-efl  15 


■  348  P  A  I  N  E  ^  s    WORKS. 

always  paid  in  bank  notes,  and  as  bank  notes  can  always  be  coined 
for  the  purpofe,  this  mode  of  payment  proves  nothing.  The  point 
of  proof  is,  can  the  bank  give  caih  for  the  bank  notes  on  which  the 
intereft  is  paid?  If  it  cannot,  and  it  is  evident  it  cannot,  fome  mil- 
lions of  banknotes  muri:  go  without  payment,  and  thofe  holders  of 
bank  notes  who  apply  lafb  will  be  word  off.  V/ere  the  prefent 
quantity  of  cafn  in  the  bank  paid  away,  it  is  next  to  impoffible 
to  lee  liow  any  new  quantity  is  to  arrive.  None  will  arrive  from  taxes, 
for  the  taxes  will  all  be  paid  in  bank  notes  ;  and  fliould  the  govern- 
ment refufe  bank  notes  in  payment  of  taxes,  the  credit  of  bank  notes 
will  be  gone  at  once,  no  calh  will  arrive  from  the  bufmefs  of  difcount- 
ing  merchants  bills  ;  for  every  merchant  will  pay  off  thofe  bills  in 
banknote,  and  not  in  cath.  There  is  therefore  no  means  left 
for  the  b  nk  to  obtain  a  new  fupply  of  cafh,  after  the  prefent  quan- 
tity be  paid  away.  But,  befides  the  impoffibility  of  paying  the  in  = 
tereft  of  the  funded  debt  in  cafh,  there  are  many  thoufands  perfons  in 
London  and  in  the  country,  wdio  are  holders  of  bank  notes  that  came 
into  t]ieir  hands  in  the  fair  way  of  trade,  and  who  are  not  flock- 
holders  in  the  funds;  and  as  inch  perions  have  had  no  hand  in  in- 
creaiing  tlie  demand  upon  the  bank,  as  thoi'e  have  had  who,  for  their 
own  private  interefl,  like  Boyd  and  others,  are  contracting,  or  pre- 
tending to  contra6t,  for  new  loans,  thev  will  conceive  they  have  a 
juft  right  their  bank  notes  fliould  be  paid  firfl.  Boyd  has  been  very 
fly  in  France,  in  changing  his  paper  into  cafh.  He  will  be  juft  as  fly 
in  doing  the  fame  thing  in  London  ;  for  he  has  learned  to  calculate  : 
and  then  it  is  probable  he  will  fet  off  for  America. 

A  floppage  of  payment  at  the  barjk  is  not  a  new  thing.  Smith,  in 
his  Vv^ealth  of  Nations,  book  2,  chap.  2.  fa^^s,  that  in  the  year  1696, 
exchequer  bills  fell  fort)'-,  fifty,  and  fixty  per  cent,  bank  notes  twenty 
per  cent,  and  the  bank  llopt  payment.  That  which  happened  in  1696. 
may  happen  again  in  1 796.  The  period  in  which  it  happened  was  the 
lafl  year  of  the  war  of  king  William.    It  neceffarily  put  a  Hop  to  the 
further  emiffion  of  exchequer  and  navy  bills,  and  to  the  raifmg  of  new 
loans  ;    and  the  peace  which  took  place  the  next  year  was  probably 
hu:  ried  on    by    this  circumftance,     and    faved  the  bank  from  bank- 
ruptcy. Smith,  in  fpeaking  from  the  circumflances  of  the  bank,  upon 
another    occafion,    fays    (book  2,    chap.    2), — "  This    great   com- 
**  pany   has  been  reduced  to   the  neceflity   of  paying  in  fix-pences." 
When  a  bank  adopts  the   expedient  of  paying  in  iix-pences,  it  is  a 
confelTion  of  infolvency.  :  ;!r  J-'i,"  • 

It  is  worthy  of  obfervation,    that  every  cafe  of  failure  in  financ€s. 


ON  THE  ENGLISH  SYSTEM  OF  FINANCE.      349 

iince  the  fyftem  of  paper  began,  has  produced  a  revolution  in  govern- 
ment, either  total  or  partial.  A  failure  in  the  finance  of  the^fiignats 
broke  up  the  revolutionary  government,  and  produced  the  prefent 
French  conftitution.  A  failure  in  the  finances  of  the  old  congrefs  of 
America,  and  the  x^mbarrafTments  it  brought  upon  the  commerce, 
broke  up  the  fyftem  of  the  old  confederation,  and  prodjiccd  the  fede- 
ral conftitution.  If  then  we  admit  of  reafoning  by  comparifon  of 
caufes  and  events,  the  failure  in  the  Englifh  finances  will  produce 
fome  change  in  the  government  of  that  country. 

As  to  Mr.  Pitt's  projedl  of  paying  off  the  national  debt  by 
applying  a  million  a  year  for  that  purpofe,  while  he  continues  ad- 
ding more  than  twenty  millions  a  year  to  it,  it  13  like  fetting  a  man 
with  a  wooden  leg  to  run  after  a  hare.  The  longer  he  runs  the  far- 
ther he  is  off. 

When  I  faid  that  the  funding  fyftem  had  entered  the  laft  tv/cnty 
years  of  exiftence,  I  certainly  did  not  mean  that  it  would  continue 
twenty  years,  and  then  expire  as  a  leafe  would  do.  I  meant  to  dc- 
fcribe  that  age  of  decrepitude  in  which  death  is  every  day  to  be  ex- 
pe6led,  and  life  cannot  continue  long.  But  the  death  of  credit,  or 
that  ftate  that  is  called  bankruptcy,  is  not  always  marked  by  thofe 
progreflive  ftages  of  vifible  decline,  that  mark  the  decline  of  natural 
life.  In  the  progreffion  of  natural  life,  age  cannot  counterfeit  yx)Uth, 
nor  conceal  the  departure  of  juvenile  abilities.  But  it  is  otherwife 
with  refpedl  to  the  death  of  credit ;  for  though  all  tlie  approaches 
to  bankruptcy  may  a<!^ually  exift  in  circumftances,  they  admit  of  be- 
»  ing  concealed  by  appearances.  Nothing  is  more  common  than  to  fee 
the  bankrupt  of  to-day  a  man  in  credit  but  the  day  before  ;  yet  no 
fooner  in  the  real  ftate  of  his  affairs  known,  than  every  body,  9an  fee 
he  had  been  infolvent  long  before.  In  London,  the  greateft  theatre 
of  bankruptcy  in  Europe,  this  part  of  the  fubje6l  wiU  ^e;;Weli  fUid 
feelingly  iinderftood.  ...  .„,.  t  ^  ,  _,. 

Mr.  Pitt  continually  talks  of  credit,  and  of  the  national  rcfourccs. 
Thefe  arc  tv^'o  of  the  feigned  appearances  by  which  the  approaches 
to  bankruptcy  are  concealed.  That  which  he  calls  credit  may  exift, 
as  I  have  juft  ftievv^n,  in.  a  ftate  of  infolvcncy,  and  is  alvya)'^  vi;hat  I 
have  before  defcribed  it  to  be,  fufp'icion  ajleep. 

As  to  national  refources,  Mr.  Pitt,  like  all  the  Englifh  financiers* 
that  preceded  him  fince  the  funding  fyftem  began,  has  uniformly 
miftaken  the  nature  of  a  refource;  that  is,  they  have  rpjftakcn  it  con- 
fiftently  with  the  delufion  of  the  funding  fyftem  ;  but  time  is  explain- 
ing the  delufion.     That  whicii  he  calh,  and  which  they  called,   a 


350  P  A  I  N  E  >  8    W  O  R  It  g. 

refourcc,  is  not  a  refcurce,  but  is  tlie  anUdbatton  of  a  refource.  Thcj' 
hare  anticipated  what  ivoidd  hove  been  a  rcfource  in  another  genera- 
tion, had  not  the  ufe  of  it  been  fo  anticipated.  The  funding  fyflem 
is  a  fyilem  of  anticipation.  Thofe  who  eitabhfhed  it  an  hundred  years 
ago,  anticipated  the  refourcea  of  thofe  who  were  to  hve  an  hundred 
years  after;  for  the  people  of  the  prefent  day  have  to  pay  the  in- 
tered  of  the  debts  contraftcd  at  that  time,  and  of  all  debts  contraded 
fince.  But  it  is  the  lail  feather  that  breaks  the  horfe's  back.  Had 
the  fyflem  began  an  hundred  years  before,  the  amount  of  taxes  at  this 
time  to  pay  the  annual  interefl  at  four  per  cent,  (could  we  fuppofe 
fuch  a  fyllem  of  infanity  could  have  continued)  would  be  two  hun- 
dred and  twenty  millions  annually;  for  the  capital  of  the  debt  would 
be  5486  millions,  according.to  the  ratio  that  afcertains  the  expencc 
of  the  wars  for  the  hundred  years  that  are  paft.  But  long  before  it 
could  have  reached  this  period,  the  value  of  bank  notes,  from  the  im- 
menfe  quantity  of  them,  (for  it  is  in  paper  only  that  fuch  a  nominal 
revenue  could  be  colledted)  would  have  been  as  low  or  lower  than  con- 
tinental paper  money  has  been  in  America  or  afiignats  in  France ;  and 
as  to  the  idea  of  exchanging  them  for  gold  and  Iilver,  it  is  too  abfurd 
to  be  contradided. 

Do  we  not  fee  that  nature,  in  all  her  operations,  difowns  the  vifion- 
ary  bafis  upon  which  the  funding  fyilemis  built?  She  afls  always  by 
renewed  fucceflions,  and  never  by  accumulating  additions  perpetually 
progrcffing.  Animals  and  vegetables,  men  and  trees,  have  exilled  ever 
lince  the  world  began ;  but  that  exiftence  has  been  carried  on  by  fuc- 
cef[ion  of  generations,  and  not  by  continuing  the  fame  men  and  the 
fame  trees  in  exiftence  that  exifted  firft  ;  and  to  make  room  for  the  new 
Ihe  removes  the  old.  Every  natural  ideot  can  fee  this.  It  is  the 
ftock-jobbing  ideot  only  that  miftakes.  He  has  conceived  that  art 
can  do  what  uaturc  cannot.  He  is  teaching  her  a  new  fyftem— -that 
there  is  no  occafion  for  man  to  die — That  the  fcheme  of  creation  can 
be  carried  on  upon  the  plan  of  the  funding  fyltem — That  it  can  pro- 
ceed by  continual  additions  of  new  beings  like  new  loans,  and  all  live 
together  in  eternal  youth.  Go,  count  the  graves,  thou  ideot,  and 
learn  the  folly  of  thy  arithmetic. 

But  befides  thefe  things,  there  is  fomething  viiibly  farcical  in  the 
whole  operation  of  loaning.  It  is  fcarcely  more  than  four  years  ago 
that  fuch  a  rot  of  bankruptcy  fpread  itfelf  over  London,  that  the 
wlioie  commercial  fabric  tottered;  trade  and  credit  were  at  a  ftand ; 
and  fuch  was  the  ftate  of  things,  that  to  prevent,  or  fufpend  a  general 
bankruptcy,  the  government  lent  the  merchants  fix  millions'  in  govtrn-^ 


ON  THE  ENGLISH.  SYSTEM  OF  FINANCE.        351 

w/^«/ -paper,  and  now  the  merchants  lend  the  government  twenty-two 
milh'ons  in  their  paper;  and  two  parties,  Boyd  and  Morgan,  men  but 
little  kiiown,  contend  who  fliall  be  the  lenders.  What  a  farce  is  thisl 
It  reduces  the  operation  of  loaning  to  accommodation  paper,  in  which 
the  competitors  contend,  not  who  fliail  lend,  but  who  {hall  fign,  be- 
caufe  there  is  fomething  to  be  got  for  figning. 

Every  En^lifh  flock-jobber  and  minifter  boafls  of  the  credit  of 
England.  Its  credit,  fay.  they,  is  greater  than  that- of  any  country 
in  Europe.  There  is  a  good  reafon  for  this;  for  there  is  not  another 
country  in  Europe  that  could  be  made  the  dupe  of  fuch  a  .delufion. 
The  Eneli'di  funding  fyftera  will  remain  a  monument  of  wonder,  not 
fo  much  on  account  of  the  extent  to  which  it  has  been  carried,  as  of 
the  folly  of  believing  in  it. 

Thofe  who  had  formerly  predified  that  the  funding  fyftem  would 
break  up  when  the  debt  fhould  amount  to  one  hundred  or  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  miUions,  erred  only  in  not  diftinguifhing  between  in fol- 
vency  and  a£lual  bankruptcy ;  for  the  infolvency  commenced  as  foon 
as  the  government  became  unable  to  pay  the  interefl:  in  cafh,  or  to 
give  cafli  for  the  bank  notes  in  which  the  iHtereft  was  paid,  whether 
that  inability  was  known  or  not,  or  whether  it  was  fufpefted  or  not- 
Infolvency  always  takes  place  before  bankruptcy;  for  bankruptcy  is 
nothing  more  than  the  publication  of  that  infolvency.  In  the  affairs 
of  an  individual,  it  often  happens  that  infolvency  exifts  feveral  years 
before  bankruptcy,  and  that  the  infolvency  is  concealed  and  carried 
on  till  the  individual  is  not  able  to  pay  one  fhilHng  in  the  pound.  A 
government  can  ward  off  bankruptcy  Iwnger  than  an  individual;  but 
infolvency  will  inevitably  produce  bankruptcy,  whether  in  an  indivi- 
dual or  in  a  government.  If  then  the  quantity  of  bank  notes  payable; 
on  demand,  which  the  bank  has  iffued,  are  greater  than  the  bank  can 
pay  off,  the  bank  is  infolvent;  and  when  that  infolvency  be  declaimed,, 
it  is  bankruptcy.* 

*  Among  the  dehijions  that  have  been  impofecl  upon  ths  natiGJi  hy  mi- 
nijlers^  to  give  o.  fa^f^  colouring  to  its  ajfairs,  and  by  ncm  more  than  by 
Mr.  P'itti  is  a  t?wtley,  amphibious  charactered  thing  called  the  b,alance  .01 
trade.  'This  balance  of  trade^  as  it  is  called^  is  taken  from,  the  cujiom- 
houfe  boohs,  in  tvhlch  entries  are  made  of  all  cargjes  exported,  aud  alfo  all 
cargoes  imported,  in  each  year  ;  and  'when  the  'valu€  of  the  exports,  accord-^ 
ing  to  the  price  fet  upon  them  by  the  exporter  or  by  the  cujlom-houfe,  is 
greater  than  the  value  of  the  imports,  ejlimated  intlie  farriemaniieri  .tk'!yi 
fay,  the  balance  of  trade  u  much  in  th/ir  favour^ 


Sj-i  PAINE^s    WORKS. 

I  come  now  to  fhew  the  feveral  ways  by  which  bank  notes  get  into 
circulation.  I  fliall  afterwards  offer  an  eilimate  on  the  total  quantity 
or  smoiint  of  bank-notes  exifling  at  this  moment. 

The  bank  ails  in  three  capacities.  As  a  bank  of  difcount;  as  a 
bank  of  depofit;  and  as  bank  for  the  government. 

Firft,  as. bank  of  difcount.  The  bank  difcounts  merchants  bills 
of  exchange  for  two  months.  V/hen  a  merchant  has  a  bill  that  will 
become  due  at  the  end  of  two  months,  and  wants  payment  bef^^, 
that  time,  the  bank  advances  that  payment  to  him,  deducting  t^re- 
from  at  the  rate  of  five  per  cent,  per  annum.  The  bill  of  excl^'ngfe 
remains  at  the  bank  as  a  'pledge  or  pawn,  and  at  the.  end  of-.tui? 
months  it  mull  be  redeemed.  This  tranfaiflion  is  done  altogether  in 
paper;  for  the  profits  of  the  bank,  as  a  bank  of  difcount,  arife  entirely 
from  its  making  ufe  of  paper  as  money.  The  bank  gives  bank-notes 
to  the  merchant  in  difcounting  the  bill  of  exchange,  and  the  redeemer 
of  the  bill  pays  bank  notes  to  the  bank  in  redeeming  it.  It  very 
feldom  happens  that  any  real  money  pafies  between  them. 

The  cvjiovi-houfe  hooh  prove  regularly  enough  that  Jo  many  cargoes 
have  been  exported^  and  fo  many  imported  ;  hut  this  is  all  that  they  prove, 
or  'were  intended  to  prove.  They  have  nothing  to  do  ivith  the  balance  of 
profit  or  lofs  ;  and  it  is  ignorance  to  appeal  to  them  upon  that  account:  for 
the  cafe  is,  that  the  greater  the  lofs  is  in  any  one  year,  the  higher  ivill  this 
thing  called  ike  balance  of  trade  appear  to  be  according  to  the  cuflom-houft 
looks.  For  Example,  nearly  the  n.vhole  of  the  Mediterranean  c  nvoy  has 
been  taken  by  the  French  this  year  ;  confequently  thofe  cargoes  luill  not  ap- 
pear as  imports  on  the  cuflom-hauf  hooks,  and  therefore,  the  balance  of  trade, 
by  ivhich  they  mean  the  profits  of  it,  'will  appear  to  be  fo  much  the  greater 
as  the  lofs  amounts  to;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  had  the  lofs  not  happened, 
the  profits  'would  have  appeared  to  have  been  fo  much  the  Icfs.  All  the 
lojfes  happening  dt  fca  to  returning  cargoes,  by  accidents,  by  the  elements^ 
or  by  capture,  make  the  balance  appear  the  loigher  on  the  fide  of  the  ex- 
ports;  and  'a.'cr'e  they  all  loft  at  fe  a,  it  'w  bid d  appear  to  be- all  profit  oh  the 
riiflom-houfe  hooks.  JJfo  every  cargo  of  exports  that  is  lofl  that  occafiont 
another  to  be  fen  t,  adds  in  like  manner  to  the  fide  of  the  exports^  and  app^rs 
as  profit.  This  year  the  balance  of  trade  'will  appear  high,  Ucaufe"^ 
loffes  have  been  great  by  capture  and  by  forms.  The  ignorance  of  the  j^i^ 
ii/h  parliament,  in  Tiflening  to  this  hackneyed  impojition  of  miniprs  about 
the  balance  oftradfi,  is  ajlon'fliing.  Itfie'ws  honv  little  they  hww  of  na- 
rional  afairs  ;  and  Mr.  Grey  may  as  'well  talk  Greek  to  them,  as  to  make 
motions  ahout  thefiate  of  the  nation.  They  underfland  fox-hunting  and 
the  game-laivs. 


ON  TKE  ENGLISH  SYSTEM  OF  FINANCE.       353 

If  the  profits  of  a  bank  be,  for  example,  two  liur.dred  thonfand 
pounds  a  year  (a  great  fum  to  be  made  merely  by  exchanging  one  fort 
of  paper  for  anoth&r,  and  which  fhews  aifo  that  the  merchants  of  that 
place  arcpreffcd  for  money  for  payments,  inftead  of  having  monevto 
fpare  to  lend  to  government),  it  proves  that  the  bank  diicounts  to  ti\c 
amount  of  four  millions  annually,  or  566,6661.  every  two  months; 
and  as  there  never  remain  iu  the  bank  more  than  tvro  months  pledges, 
of  the  value  of  666,6661.  at  any  one  time,  the  amount  of  bank  notes 
m  circulation  at  any  one  time  Should  not  be  more  than  to  that  amount. 
This  is  fui^cient  to  (hew  that  the  prefent  immenfe  quanti:yof  bank 
notes,  which  are  dillributed  through  every  city,  town,  village,  and 
farm-houfe  in  England,  cannot  be  accounted  for  on  the  fcove  of  dif- 
counting. 

Secondly,  as  a  bank  of  depofit.  To  depoflt  m^oney  at  the  bank 
means  to  lodge  it  there  for  the  fake  of  convenience,  and  to  be  drawn 
out  at  any  moment  the  depofitor  pleafes,  or  to  be  paid  away  to  his 
order.  When  the  bufmefs  of  difcounting  is  great,  that  of  depoliting 
is  neceflarily  fmall.  No  man  depofits  and  applies  for  difcounts  at  the 
fame  time  ;  for  it  would  be  hke  paying  intereil  for  lending  money,  in- 
ftcad  of  for  borrowing  it.  The  depofits  that  are  now  made  at  the 
bank  are  almoft  entirely  in  bank  notes,  and  confequently  they  add 
nothing  to  the  ability  of  the  bank  to  pay  oft  the  bank  notes  that  may 
be  prefented  for  payment;  and  befides  this,  the  depofits  are  uo  more 
the  property  of  the  bank  than  the  cafh  or  bank  notes  In  a  merchant's 
counting  houfe  are  the  property  of  his  book-keeper.  No  great  in- 
creafe  therefore  of  bank  notes,  beyond  what  the  difcounting  bufincfs 
admits,  can  be  accounted  for  on  the  fcore  af  dcptsfits. 

Thirdly.  The  bank  zSis  as  banker  for  the  government.  This  is 
the  connexion  that  threatens  ruin  to  every  public  bank.  It  is 
through  this  connexion  that  the  credit  of  a  bank  is  forced  far  beyond 
what  it  ought  to  be,  and  ilill  further  beyond  its  ability  to  pay.  It 
is  through  this  conneilion  that  fuch  an  immenfe  redundant  quantity 
of  bank  notes  have  gotten  into  circulation;  and  which,  inftead  of  be- 
in^ilTued  becaufe  there  was  property  in  the  bank,  have  been  ilTucd 
|j||Efaufe  tlicre  was  none. 

.5^.  When  the  treafury  is  empty,  which  happens  in  almoU  every  year 
of  every  war,  Its  coffers  at  the  bank  are  empty  alio.  It  is  in  this 
condition  of  emptlnefs  that  the  miniiler  ha5  recourfe  to  emiiTion;?  of 
what  are  called  exchequer  and  navy  bills,  which  continually  generates 
a  new  increafe  of  bank  notes,,  and  which  are  fported  upon  the  public 

Vol,  II,  Z  z 


354  •        1^  A  I  N  E  '  s    WORKS. 

without  there  being  property  in  the  bank  to  pay  them ^Thefc  ex- 
chequer and  navy  b-lls  (being,  as  I  have  faid,  emitted  becaufc  the 
trcalury  and  us  coiTers  at  the  bank  are  empty^  and  cannot  pay  the 
demands  that  come  in)  are  no  other  than  an  acknowledgment  that 
the  bearer  is  entitled  to  receive  fo  much  money.  They  may  be  com- 
pared to  the  feltlement  of  an  account,  ia  which  the  debtor  acknow- 
ledges the  balance  he  owes,  and  for  which  he  gives  a  note  of  hand  ; 
or  to  a  note  of  hand  given  to  raife  money  upon  it. 

Sometimes  the  bank  difccunts  thofe  bills  as  it  would  difcount  mer- 
cliants'  bills  of  exchange ;  fom.etimes  it  purchafes  them  of  the  holders 
at  the  current  price  ;  and  fometimes  it  agrees  with  the  minillers  to 
pay  an  interell  upon  them  to  the  holders,  and  keep  them  in  circula- 
tion. In  every  one  of  th  fe  cafes  an  additional  quantity  of  bank  notes 
get  into  cn-cubtion,  and  are  fported,  as  I  have  faid,  upon  the  public? 
without  there  being  property  in  the  bank,  as  banker  for  the  govern- 
ment, to  pay  thern :  and  befides  this,  the  bank  has  now  no  money 
Ox  its  own;  for  the  money  tlint  was  originally  fubfcribed  to  begin  the 
credit  of  the  bank  with  at  its  iirft  eilabliihment,  has  been  lent  to  go- 
vernment, and  wafted  long  ago. 

"  The  bank  (fays  Smith,  book  2,  chap.    2)    afts  not  only  as  an 
"  ordinary  bank,  but  as  a  great  engine  of  ftate ;    it  receives  and  pays 
"  the  greater  part  of  the  aniuiities  which  are  due  to  the  creditors  of 
"  thej^r^MV."    (It  is  worth  obferving,  that  the  PuMicf  or  the  nation,  is 
always  put  for  the  government  in  fpeaking  of  debts.)       **  It  circu- 
"  lates"  (fays  Smith)  "  exchequer  bills,  and  it  advances  to  government 
"the  annual  amount  of  the  land  and  malt  taxes,  which  are  frequently 
**"not  pa:"dtill  feveral  years  afterwards.'*      (This  advancement  is  alfo 
done   in  bank  notes,    for  which  there  is  not  property  in  the  bank.) 
"  In  thofe  different  operations  (fays  Smith)  its  duty  to  the  public  may 
"  fometimes  have  obh'ged  it,  v.-ithout   any  fault  of  its  diredors,  to 
**  overflnck  the  circulation  with  paper  w^s/zr'j,"— -bank  notes.     How  its 
duty  to  the  public  can  induce  it  to  o'verjloch  that  public  with  promiflbry 
bank  notes  which  it  cannot  pay,  and  thereby  expofe  the  individuals  of 
that  public  to  rum,  is  too   paradoxical  to  be  explained;  for  it  is, on 
the  credit  which  individuals ^ii;^  to  the  bank,  by  receiving  and  circulat- 
ing its  notes,  and  not  upon  its  own  credit  or  its  own  property,  for  it 
has  none,   that  the  bank  fports.      If  however  it  be  the  duty  of  the 
bank  to  expofe  the  public  to  this  hazard,   it  is  at  leall  equally  the 
dutyof  the  individuals  of  that  public  to   get  their  money  and  take 
care  of  themfelves;  and  leave  it  to  placemen,  penfioners,  government 
contrafiors,  PwC^ves's  alfociation,   and  the  members  of  both  houfes 


ON  THE  ENGLISH  SYSTEM  OF  FINANCE.     355 

®f  parliament,  who  have  voted  away  the  money  at  tlie  nod  of  the 
miniller,  to  continue  the  credit  if  they  can,  and  for  vv'hich  their 
cftates  individually  and  colleftivciy  ought  to  anhver,    as  far  as  tlicy 


■will  go. 


There  has  always  exifted,  and  ilill  exifts  a  myileriou.?,  fufpicious 
conne6i:ion,  between  the  miniller  and  the  direflors  of  the  bank,  and 
which  explains  itfclf  no  otherv»'ife  than  by  a  continual  increafe  of  bank 
notes.  Without,  therefore,  entering  into  any  further  details  or  the 
various  contrivances  by  which  bank  notes  are  iffued,  and  thrown  upon 
the  public,  I  proceed,  as  I  before  mentioned,  to  o&r  an  eilimate  on 
the  total  quantity  of  bank  notes  in  circulation. 

However  difpofed  governments  may  be  to  wring  money  by  taxes 
from  the  people,  there  is  a  hmit  to  the  practice  eitabiirned  in  the  na- 
ture of  things.  That  limit  is  the  proportion  between  the  quar;tity 
of  money  in  a  nation,  be  that  quantity  of  money  what  it  may,  and  the 
greatefl;  quantity  of  tajies  that  can  be  raifed  upon  it.  People  have 
other  ufes  for  money  befides  paying  taxes;  and  it  is  only  a  propor- 
tional part  of  that  money  they  can  fpare  for  taxes,  as  it  is  only  a  pro- 
portionable part  they  can  fpare  for  houfe-rent,  for  clothing,  or  for 
any  other  particular  ufe.  Thefe  proportions  find  out  and  eflabiifli 
themfelves ;  and  that  with  fuch  exadlnefs,  that  if  any  one  part  ex- 
ceeds its  proportion,  all  the  other  p^.rt*;  feel  it. 

Before  the  invention  of  paper  money  (banknotes),  there  v/as  no 
other  money  in  the  nation  than  gold  and  iilvcr,  and  the  (grc-ateit 
quantity  of  money  that  ever  was  raifed  in  taxes  c'airiirg  that  period, 
never  exceeded  a  fourth  part  of  the  quantity  of  money  in  tne  •;  'uion. 
It  was  high  taxing  Vvhen  it  came  to  this  point.  The  ta::es  in  the 
•time  of  William  the  third  never  reached  to  four  millions  before  tl>e 
invention  of  paper,  and  the  quantity  of  money  in  the  nation  at  that 
time  vt^as  eftimated  to  be  about  fixteen  millions.  The  fame  propor- 
tions ellabhihed  themfelves  in  France.  There  was  no  proper  money 
in  France  before  the  prefent  revolution,  and  the  taxes  were  colle(!:ted 
in  gold  and  filver  money.  The  highell  quantity  of  taxes  never  ex- 
ceeded twenty-two  millions  llerling  ;  and  the  quantity  of  gold  ar.d 
filver  money  in  the  nation  at  the  fame  time,  as  dated  by  Mr.  Neckar, 
from  returns  of  coinage  at  the  mint,  in  his  Trcatife  on  the  Admmii- 
tration  of  the  Finances,  was  about  nicety  millions  llerllrig.  '  To  go 
beyond  this  limit  of  a  f<)urth  part,  in  England,  they  were  obliged  to 
introduce  paper  money;  and  the  attempt  to  go  beyond  it  in  France, 
where  paper  could  not  be  introduced,  broke  up  the  government. 
This  proportion  therefore  of  a  fourth  part,  is  the  limit  which  th? 


55^  '         PAINE's    V/0RK3. 

nature  of  the  thing  eilabliihes  for  itfelf,   be  the  QiKintity  of  raon?y  it: 
a  nation  more  or  lefs. 

The  amonnt  of  taxes  in  Enghvnd  at  this  time  is  full  twenty  mil- 
lions ;  and  therefore  the  quantity  of  gold  andfilver,  and  of  bank  notes, 
taken  together,  amounts  to  eighty  millions.  The  quantity  of  gold 
and  liivcr,  as  flatcd  by  Lord  Hawkcrfbury's  fecretary  (George 
Chalmers),  as  I  have  before  flicwn,  is  twenty  millions;  and  there- 
fore, the  total  amount  of  bank  notes  in  circulation,  all  made  payable 
OH  dec^and,  is  fixry  milhons.  This  enormous  fum  will  ailonifh  the 
motJr  ft'Upid  ftock-jobber,  aad  overpower  the  credulity  of  the  molt 
thoughikfs  Engliihman  :  but  were  it  only  a  third  part  of  that  fum, 
the  bank  camot  pay  halfa  crown  in  the  pound. 

1  iiere  is  iomethmg  curious  in  the  movements  of  this  modern  com- 
pueated  ,,iachine,  the  funding  lyilem  ;  and  it  is  only  now  that  it  is 
beginning- to  unfold  the  full  extent  of  its  movements.  In  the  firfl 
part  of  its  movements  it  gives  great  powers  into  the  mvnds  of  govern- 
ment,   and  in  the  la ii  part  it  takf-s  them  completely  away.     - 

i  lie  funding  fyllem  fe.t  out  witly  raifing  revenues  under  the  name 
of  fe^n.s,  by  means  of  which  n^-overnm-ent  became  both  prodigal  and 
po\veif&ibn''The  loaners  afTumcd  the  name  of  creditors,  and  though  it 
was  focTn  difcovered  that  loaning;  was  government  jobbing,  thofe  pr^- 
tend<?d  loaners,  or  the  perfcns  vrho  purchafed  into  the  funds  after- 
wards, •  coribeived  themfelves  not  only  to  be  creditors,  but  to  be  the 
onlf  s^edilo'rs. 

But  fucli  has  been  t'le  operation  of  this  complicated  machine,  the 
funding'fyit'em,  that  it  has  produced,  unperceived,  a  fecond  genera- 
tion otcrfefditor?,  more  numerous  and  far  more  formidable,  and  with:ii 
more  red  than  the  lirft  generation  ;  for  every  holder  of  a  bank  note 
i?,  a  creditor^  and  a  real  creditofj  and  the  debt  due  to  him  is  made 
payable  on 'd(^mand.  The  debt  therefore  which  the  gbyerninent  owes 
to  iniilividualf;  is  ccJmpofed  of  two  parts  ;  the  one  about  four  hundred 
inilh'ons'bearmg  intereft,  the  other  about  fixty  millions  payable  on 
demand*'  The  one  is  called  the  funded  debt,  the  other  is  the  debt 
due  in  b:-mk  notes.  .        . 

This'  fecund  debt  (that  contained  in  the  bank  notes)  has,  in  a 
gre^t  meaflife'',  h'ii6h  incurred  to  pay  the  intereft  of  the  firft  debt ;  fo 
that' fif  fa6l  Httls^-oi*  no  real  intereft  has  been  paid  bY  government. 
The'wholc  has  bceli  deluficn  and  fraud*  Government  hrll-cdntradled 
«i  debt  in  the  form  of  loans  with  one  clafs  of  people,  and  then  nm 
clandeflinely  into  debt  with  another  clafs,  by  means  of  bank  notes, 
to  pay  the  iritcrcil.     Govdrnmej-it   a(9ted  of  itfelf  in  contracting' the  ' 


ON  THE  ENGLISH  SYSTEM  OF  FINANCE.     557 

firfl  debt,  and  made  a  rnachine  of  the  bank  to  contra£l  the  fecond. 

— It  Is  this  lecorid  debt  that  changes  the  feat  of  power  and  the 
order  of  things  ;  for  it  puts  it  in  the  power  of  even  a  fmall  part  of 
the  holders  of  bank  notes  (had  they  no  other  motive  than  difgud  at 
Pitt  and  Grenville's  fedition  bills)  to  control  any  meafure  of  go- 
vernment they  found  to  be  injurious  to  their  intcrcft  ;  and  that  not 
by  popular  meetings,  or  popular  focieties,  but  by  the  fimple  and 
eafy  operation  of  with-hoiding  their  credit  from  that  government  ; 
that  is,  by  individually  demanding  payment  at  the  bank  for  every 
bank  note  that  comes  into  their  bands.  Why  fliould  Pitt  and  Gren- 
ville  expe£l  that  the  very  men  whom  they  infult  and  injure  fhould 
at  the  fam.e  time  continue  to  fupport  the  meafures  of  Pitt  and  Gren- 
ville,  by  giving  credit  to  their  promifibry  notes  of  payment  ?  No  new 
emifiions  of  bank  notes  could  vo  on  while  payment  was  demandinor 
on  the  old  and  the  cafli  in  tlie  bank  wafting  daily  away  ;  nor  any 
new  advances  be  made  to  governm.ent  or  to  the  emperor  to  carry  011 
the  war  ;  nor  an\r  new  cm>iffion  be  made  on  exchequer  bills. 

**  "The  hanh^i^^  fays  Smith,  (book  ii.ch.  2)  is  ^^  a  great  engine  of 
Jlate,  And  in  the  fame  paragraph  he  fays,  *'  Thejlah'd'ityofthebank 
is  equfd  ip'  that  of  the  Br it'iflo go'v eminent  ;*'  which  is  the  fame  as  to 
fay  that  the  liability  of  the  government  is  equal  to  that  of  the  bank, 
^and  no  m.ore.  If  then  the  bank  cannot  pay,  the  arch-treafurer  of  the 
holy  Rg man  empire  (S.  R.  I.  A.*)  is  a  bankrupt.  When  Folly  in- 
vented titles,  (he  did  not  attend  to  their  application  ;  for  ever  fmce 
the  government  of  England  has  been  in  the  hands  o{  arch-treafurer s^ 
it  has  been  running  into  bankruptcy  ;  and  as  to  the  arch-treafurer  ap- 
parent^ he  has  been  a  bankrupt  long  ago.  What  a  miferablc  prof- 
pe6l  has  England  before  its  eyes  i 

Before  thewarof  1755  there  were  no  bank  notes  lou-cr  th;nn  twenty 
pounds.  During  that  war  bank  notes  of  fifteen  pounds  and  of  ten 
pounds  were  coined  ;  and  now,  fmce  the  commencement  of  the  pre- 
lent  war,  they  are  coined  as  low  as  five  pounds.  Thefc  five  pound 
notes  will  circulatje  chiefly  among  little  fnop-keepers,  butchers,  ba- 
kers, market  people,  renters  of  fmall  houfes,  lodgers,  Zlc.  All  the 
high  departments  of  commerce,  and  the  affluent  llations  of  life  were 
already  o'verjiocledy  as  Smith  expreiTes  it,  with  the  bank  notes.  No 
place  remained  open  wherein  to  crowd  an  additional  quantity  of  bank 
notes,  tbyt  3mpng  the  clafs  of  people  I  have  ju ft  mentioned,  and  the 
mcaiia  of  doing  this  could  be  bell  effe£lediby  coining  five  pound  notes*. 

^  Part  of  the  Infriptton  on  an  E^gl'fh  guln&a-^ 


358  P  A  I  N  E  '  5    W  O  R  K  S. 

This  conduct  has  the  appearance  of  that  of  an  unprincipled  infolvent, 
who,  when  on  the  verge  of  bankruptcy  to  the  amount  of  many 
thonfands,  will  borr  w  as  low  as  five  pounds  of  the  fervanls  in  his 
houfe,    and  break  the  next  day. 

But  whatever  momentary  relief  or  aid  the  minifter  and  his  bank 
might  expect  from  this  low  contrivance  of  five  pound  notes,  it  will 
increafe  the  inability  of  the  bank  to  pay  the  higher  nctes,and  haften 
the  deftruftion  of  all  ;  for  even  the  fmall  taxes  that  ufed  to  be  paid  in 
money  will  now  be  paid  in  thofe  notes,  and  the  bank  will  foon  find 
itfelf  with  fcarcely  any  other  money  than  what  the  hair  powder 
euinea  tax  brings  in. 

The  bank  notes  make  the  moH  ferious  part  of  the  bufinefs  of  fi- 
nance ;  what  is  called  the  national  funded  debt  is  but  a  trifle  when  put 
incomparifon  with  it ;  yet  the  cafe  of  the  bank  notes  has  never  been 
touc"  ed  upon.  But  it  certainly  ought  to  be  known  upon  what  au- 
thority, whether  that  cf  the  miniiter  or  cf  the  directors,  and  upon 
what  foundation,  fuch  immenfe  quantises  are  ifTced.  I  have  fluted 
the  amount  of  them  at  fixty  raiJiions  fterling  ;  I  have  produced  data 
for  that  efiimation  ;  and  befides  this,  the  apparent  quantity  of  them, 
far  beyond  that  of  gold  and  filver  in  the  nation,  corroborates  there- 
with. But  were  there  but  a  third  part  of  fixty  millions,  the  bank 
cannot  pay  half  a  crown  in  tha  pound  ;  for  no  new  fupply  of  money, 
as  before  faid,  can  arrive  at  the  bank,  ?.s  all  the  taxes  will  be  paid  in 
paper. 

When  the  funding  fyitem  began,  it  was  not  doubted  that  the  loans 
that  had  been  borrowed  v.'oiild  be  repaid.  Government  not  only 
■  propagated  that  belief,  hut  it  began  payipg  them  off.  In  time  this 
profeiTion  came  to  be  abandoned  :  and  it  is  not  diihcult  to  fee  that 
bank  notes  will  march  the  fame  way;  for  the  amount  of  them  is  only 
another  debt  under  another  name  ;  and  the  probability  is  that  Mr. 
Pitt  will  at  lafl  propofc  funding  them.  In  that  cafe  bank  notes  will 
not  be  fo  valuable  as  French  afTignats.  The  afngnats  have  a  folid 
property  in  referve  in  the  national  domains  ;  bank  notes  have  none  ; 
and  befiucs  this,  the  Englifn  revenue  mufl  then  fink  down  to  what 
the  amount  of  it  was  before  the  funding  fyflem  began  ;  between  three 
and  four  millions.  One  of  which  the  arch-treafurer  would  require 
for  him.fclf,  and  the  arch-treafurer  apparent  would  require  three- 
quarters  of  a  million  more  to  pay  his  debts.  "  In  France,''^  fays 
Sterne,    '*  they  order  thcfc  things  better.'^ 

I  have  now  expofed  the  Englifli  fyflem  of  finance  to  the  eyes  of 
all  nations  ;  for  this  work  will  be  publiuied  in  ail  languages.     In  do- 


ON  THE  ENGLISH    SYSTEM   OF  FINANCE.     359 

ing  this,  I  have  done  an  aft  of  juilice  to  thofe  numerous  citizens  of 
neutral  nations  who  have  been  impofcd  upon  by  that  fraudulent  fyf- 
tem,   and  who  have  property  at  (lake  upon  the  event. 

As  an  individual  citizen  of  America,  and  as  far  as  an  individual 
can  go,  1  have  revenged  (if  I  may  ufe  the  expreffion  without  any 
immoral  meaning)  the  piratical  depredations  committed  on  the  Ame- 
rican commerce  by  the  Englifh  government. — I  have  retaliated  for 
France  on  the  fubjeft  of  finance  :  and  I  conclude  with  retorting  on 
Mr.  Pitt  the  expreffion  he  ufed  againft  France,  and  fay,  that  the 
Enghih  fyftem  of  finance  "  is  on  the  verge,  nay  even  in  the 

GULPH    OF     BANKRUPTCY." 


THOMAS    PAINE. 

Paris,    igth  Germinal,  ^h  year  of  the 
Republic — Aprils,   1 796. 


'«»8BK&»rji:^zf?j*-':5^':s^saffir>^TiS3^^ 


LETTER 


TO        THE 


PEOPLE     OF      FRANCE 


Paris,  %V.  25.    [Fhfi  7'>^ar  cf  the  Republic.) 

FELLOW     CITIZENS,  "* 

RECEIVE,  with  affecllonate  gratitude,  the  honour  which  the 
late  national  afiemblyhas  conferred  upon  me,  by  adopting  me  a  citi- 
zen of  France  5  and  the  additional  honour  of  being  elected  by  my 
•  fellow-citizens  a  member  of  the  national  convention.  Happily  im- 
prefTed,  as  I  am,  by  thofc  teflimonies  of  refpect  fhewn  towards  me 
as  an  individual,  I  fed  my  felicity  encreafed  by  feeing  the  barrier 
broken  dov^^n  that  divided  patriotifm  by  fpots  of  earth,  and  limited 
<:itizenfhip  to  the  foil,   like  vegetation. 

'*  Had  thofe  honours  b  en  conferred  in  an  hour  of  national  tran- 
quility, they  would  have  afforded  no  other  means  of  fhewing  my  af- 
fecSlion,  than  to  have  accepted  and  enjoyed  them  ;  but  they  come  ac- 
-compani^sd  with  circumfcances  that  give  me  the  honourable  opportu- 
nity of  commencing  my  citizenfhip  in  the  ftormy  hour  of  difficulties. 
I  come  not  to  enjoy  repofe.  Convinced  that  the  caufe  of  France  is 
the  caufe  of  all  mankind,  and  that  as  liberty  cannot  be  purchafed  by 
a  wifh,  I  gladly  fhare  with  you  the  dangers  and  honours  neceffary  to 
fuccefs. 

"  I  am  well  aware  that  the  moment  of  any  great  change,  fuch  as 
that  accomplifhed  on  the  loth  of  Auguft,  is  unavoidably  the  moment 
of  terror  aid  confufion.  The  mind  highly  agitated  by  hope,  fufpi- 
<;ion,  and  apprehenfion,  continues  v.'Ithout  reft  till  the  change  be  ac- 
complifhed. But  let  us  now  look  calmly  and  confidentially  forward, 
and  fucccis  is  certain.  It  is  no  longer  the  paltry  caufe  of  kings,  or 
of  this,  oroftk„t  individual,  that  calls  France  and  her  armies  into 
action.     It  is  the  great  caufe  of  ail.     It  is  the  cdabiirnment  of  a 


LETTER  TO   THE  PEOPLE  OF   FRANCE.       361 

new  era,  that  fhall  blot  defpotifm  from  the  earth,  and  fix,  on  the 
laSlng  principles  of  peace  and  citizenfliip,  the  gre- 1  republic  of 
man. 

"  It  has  been  iry  fate  to  have  borne  a  (hare  in  the  coninrc^ncement 
and  complete  cflablifliment  of  one  Revolution  (I  mean  the  revolution 
of  America).  The  fuccefs  and  events  of  that  nvoiution  arc  encourag- 
ing to  us.  The  profperity  and  happinefs  that  have  fr.ice  ilov/ed  to 
that  country,  have  amply  rewarded  her  for  all  the  hardihips  (lie  en- 
dured, and  for  all  the  dangers  flie  encountered. 

«  The  principles  on  which  that  revolution  began,  have  extended 
themfelves  to  Europe  ;  and  an  over-ruling  providence  is  regenerating 
the  old  world  by  the  principles  of  the  new.  The  diilance  of  America 
from  all  the  other  parts  of  the  globe,  did  not  admit  of  her  carrying 
thofe  principles  beyond  her  own  fituation.  It  is  to  the  peculiar  ho- 
nour ©f  France,  that  (he  now  raifes  the  ftandard  of  liberty  for  all 
nations  ;  and  in  fighting  her  own  battles,  contends  for  the  rights  of 
all  mankind. 

"  The  fame  fpirit  of  fortitude  that  infurcd  fuccefs  to  America, 
will  infure  it  to  France  ;  for  it  is  impoffible  to  conquer  a  nation  de- 
termined to  be  free  !  The  military  circum.ftances  that  now  unite  them- 
felves to  France,  are  fuch  as  th.  defpots  of  the  earth  know  nothing 
of,  and  can  form  no  calculation  upon.  They  know  not  what  it  is  to 
fight  againft  a  nation.  They  have  only  been  accudomed  to  make 
war  upon  each  other,  and  they  know  from  fyftem  and  praftice,  how 
to  calculate  the  probable  fuccefs  of  defpot  againfl  defpot  ;  and  here 
tlieir  knowledge  and  their  experience  end. 

*'  But  in  a  conteft  like  the  1  refent,  a  new  and  boundlefs  variety  of 
circumftances  arifes,  that  deranges  all  fuch  cu(lomar)^calculations. 
When  a  whole  nation  a6\s  as  an  army,  the  defpot  knows  not  the  ex- 
tent of  the  power  againft  which  he  contends.  New  armies  rife 
againft  him  with  the  necellity  of  the  moment.  It  is  then  that  the 
difficulties  of  an  invading  enemy  multiply,  as  in  the  former  cafe  they 
diminifhed  ,•  and  he  finds  them  at  their  height  when  he  expeded 
them  to  end. 

**  The  only  war  that  has  any  fimilarity  of  circumftances  with  the 
prefent,  is  the  late  revolution-war  in  America.  On  her  part,  as  it 
now  is  in  France,  it  was  a  war  of  the  whole  nation. -i — There  it  was 
that  the  en?my,  by  beginning  to  conquer,  put  himfelf  in  a  condition 
of  being  conquered.  His  firft  vidories  prepared  him  for  defeat.  He 
advanced  till  he  could  not  retreat,  and  foiind  himfelf  in  the  midft  of  a 
nation  of  armies,  •         >  . 

Vol.  XL  ^  A 


362  P  A  I  N  E  '  s    W  O  R  K  S. 

"  Were  it  now  to  be  propofed  to  the  Auftrinns  and  Pruffians,  tCf 
cfcort  them  into  the  middle  of  France,  and  there  leave  them  to  make 
the  moil  of  fuch  a  fitiration,   they  would  fee  too  much  into  the  dan- 
gers of  it  to  accept  the  offer,  and  the  fam.e  dangers  that  would  attend 
.     them  could  they  arrive  there  by  any  other   means.      Where  then   is 
the  military  policy  of  their  attempting  to  obtain  by  force,  that  which 
they  would  refufe  by  choice.      But   to  reafon  with  defpots  is  throw- 
ing reafon  away.     The  befl  of  arguments  is  a  vigourous  preparation. 
"  Man  is  ever  a  llranger  to   the  ways  by  which  providence   regu- 
lates the  order  of  things.      The    interference  of  foreign  defpots  may 
ferve  to  introduce  into  their   own  enllaved  countri\^s  the    principles 
they  come  to  oppofe.      Liberty  and  equality   are  bl&iTmgs  too  great 
to  be  the  inheritance  of  France  alone.      It  is  honour  to  her  to  her  to 
be  their  firil  champion  ;  and  fhe  may  now  fay  to  her  enemies,  with  a 
mighty  voice,   *'  O !   ye  Auftrians,    ye  Prufiians  !  ye  who    now  turn 
your  bayonets  againfi:  us;  it  is  for  all  Europe  ;    it  is  for  all  mankind, 
and    not    for  France  alone,   that   flie   raifes   the    ilandard  of  liberty 
and  equality  ! " 

"  The  public  caufe  has  hitherto  fuffered  from  the  contradictions 
contained  in  the  conftitution  of  the  former  eonfb'tucnt  affembly.  Thofc 
contradictions  have  ferved  to  divide  the  opinions  of  individuals  at 
home,  and  to  obfcure  the  great  principles  of  the  revolution  in  other 
countries.  But  when  thofe  contradictions  fliali  be  removed,  and  the 
conftitution  be  made  conformable  to  the  declaration  of  rights  ;  when 
the  bagatelles  of  monarchy,  royalty,  regency  ;  and  hereditary  fuc- 
ceflion,  fliall  be  expofed,  with  c.?.  their  abfurdities,  a  nev/  ray  of 
light  will  be  thrown  over  the  world,  and  the  revolution  will  derive 
new  ftrength  by  being  univerfally  underftood. 

"  The  fcene  that  now  opens  rtfclf  to  France  extends  far  beyond  the 
boundaries  of  her  own  dominions.  Every  nation  is  becoming  her  col- 
league, and  every  court  is  become  her  enemy.  It  is  nov/  the  caufe  of 
all  nations  againll  the  caufe  of  all  courts.  The  terror  that  defpotifm 
felt,  clandeftinely  begot  a  confederation  of  defpots ;  and  their  at- 
tack upon  France  was  produced  by  their  fears  at  home. 

"  In  entering  on  this  great  fccne,  greater  than  any  nation  h.aji 
yet  been  called  to  aCl  in,  let  us  fay  to  the  agitated  mind,  be  calm. 
Let  us  punifn  by  inftru6ling,  rather  than  by  revenge.  Let  us  b^'^fn 
the  new  a;ra  by  a  greatnefs  of  fricnddiip,  and  hail  the  approach  of 
union  and  fuccefs, 

"  Your  Fellow  Citizen, 

*^  THOMAS  PAINE.'^ 


BEsasaaaLtai:..  'ijn&tixxsiijj  jj>aju^^xakiryjni!au!ij!t.v'v>t!w^jK«i'k.;-^i'<ttiitiiA'^  jrjffw.aHjauuSftijga 


REASONS 


FOR. 


PRESERFING  THE  LIFE  OF  LOUIS  CAPET,  AS  DE^ 
LIFERED  TO    THE  NATIONAL  CONFENTION 


Citizen   Presiden 


M' 


.Y  hatred  and  abhorrence  of  monarchy  are  fuificiently  known, 
they  originate  in  principles  of  reafon  and  convidlion,  nor  except 
with  hfe,  can  they  ever  be  extirpated  ;  but  my  compaffion  for  the 
unfortunate,  whether  friend  or  enemy,   is  equally  lively  and  fincere. 

I  voted  that  Louis  (liould  be  tried,  becaufe  it  was  neceffary  to 
tfford  proofs  to  the  world  of  the  perlidy,  corruption,  and  abomina- 
tion of  the  monarchical  fyftem.  The  infinity  of  evidence  that  has  been 
produced,  expofes  them  in  the  mofl  glaring  and  hideous  colours, — 
thence  it  refults,  that  monarchy,  whatever  form  it  may  afTume,  ar- 
bitrary or  otherwife,  becomes  neceffarily  a  centre,  round  which  are 
united  every  fpecies  of  corruption,  and  the  kingly  trade  is  no  lefs 
deftrudive  of  ail  morality  in  the  human  breart,  than  the  trade  of  an 
executioner  is  deftruftive  of  itsfenlibility. 

I  remember  during  my  refidence  in  another  country,  that  I  was 
exceedingly  ftruck  with  a  fentence  of  M.  Autheine,  at  the  Jacobins, 
which  correfponds  exa£lly  with  my  ov/n  idea, — "  Make  me  a  king 
to  day,"  faid  he,  "  and  I  fliallbe  a  robber  to-morrow.'* 

Neverthelefs  I  am  inchncd  to  believe  that  if  Louis  Capet  had  been 
born  in  an  obfcure  condition,  had  he  lived  within  the  circle  of  an 
amiable  and  refpeftable  neighbourhood,  at  liberty  to  pradice  the  du- 
ties of  domeftic  life,  had  he  been  thus  fituated,  I  cannot  believe 
that  he  would  have  fiiev/n  himfelf  deftitute  of  focial, virtues  :  we  are 
in  a  moment  of  fermentation  like  thi-,  naturally  little  indulgent  to  his 
vices,  or  rather  to  thofe  of  monarchical  governments  ;  we  regard 
them  with  additional  horror  and  indignation  ;  not  that  they  are 
more  heinous  than  thofe  of  his  predecefTors,  but  becaufe  our  eyes 
arc  now  open  and  the  veil  of  delufion  at  length  withdravvn  ;  yet  the 
lamentable,  degraded  ftate  to  which  he  is  aftually  reduced,  is.  fu rely 
far  lefs  imputable  to  him,   than  to  the  conflituent  aflembly,  which  of 


3^4  P  A  I  N  E  '  s    W  O  R  K  S. 

its  own  autiiority,  without  confent  or  advice  of  the  people,  reftored 
him  to  the  throne- 

'  I  was  in  Paris  ar  the  time  of  the  jBight  or  abdication  of  Louis 
XVI,  and  when  he  was  taken  and  brought  back.  The  propofal  of 
reftoring  to  iu'm  the  fwpreme  power  ilruck  me  with  amazement;  and 
althoigli  at  that  time  I  wa.  not  a  French  citizen,  yet  as  a  citizen  of 
the  world,  I  employed  all  the  efforts  that  depended  on  me  to  pre- 
vent it. 

A  imall  fociety,  compofed  only  of  five  perfons,  two  of  whom  are 
now  members  of  the  convention,  took  at  that  time,  the  name  of  the 
republican  club  ffociete  republicaine).  This  fccicty  oppofed  the 
reftoration  of  Louis,  not  ft)  much  on  accaimt  of  his  perfonal  ofienccs, 
as  in  order  to  overthrow  the  n;onarchy,  and  to  ereft  on  its  ruins  the 
republican  fyilcm,   and  an  equal  reprefcntation. 

V/ith  this  defign,  I  traced  out  in  the  Enghfh  language  certain  pro- 
pofitions,  which  were  tranflated  with  feme  triflmg  alterations,  and 
figncd  by  Achilles  Duchatlet,  a6lually  lieutenant  general  in  the  army 
of  he  French  r.^public,  and  at  that  tim.e,  one  of  the  live  members 
which  compofed  our  little  party :  the  law  requiring  the  fignature  of 
a  citizen  at  bottom  of  each  printed  paper. 

.  The  paper  was  indignantly  torn  by  Malouet;  and  brought  forth  * 
in  this  very  room  as  an  article  of  accufation  againft  the  perfon  who 
had  ficrned  it,  the  aulhor  and  their  adherents,  but  fuch  is  the  revolu- 
tion  of  events,  that  this  paper  is  now  received  and  brought  forth  for 
a  very  opponte  purpofe: — To  remiind  the  nation  of  the  error  of  that 
unfortunate  day,  that  fatal  error  of  having  not  then  banifned  Louis 
XVI.  from  i^&  bpfom,  and  not  to  plead  this  day  in  favour  of  his 
exile,  preferably  to  his  death. 

The  paper  in  queftion  was  conceived  in  the  following  terms: 
*'  Brethren  and  fcllov/  citizens, 

The  ferene  tranquility,  the  mutual  confidence  which  prevailed 
amongil  us,  during  the  time  of  the  late  king's  efcape,  the  indifference 
with  which  we  beheld  him  return,  are  unequivocal  proofs  that  the 
abfence  of  a  king  is  more  defirable  than  his  prcfence,  and  that  he  is 
not  only  a  political  fuperfluity,  but  a  grievous  burden  preffmg  hard 
on  the  whole  nation. 

Let  us  not  be  impofed  on  by  fophifms;  all  that  concerns  this,  is 
reduced  to  four  points. 

He  has  abdicated  the  throne  in  h  ving  i\cd  from  his  poO:.  Abdi- 
cation and  defertion  are  not  charafterized  by  tlie  length  of  abfence; 
but  by  the  fingle  aft  of  flight.  In  the  prefcnt  inftance,  the  adl  is 
every  thing,  and  the  time  nothing. 


REASONS  FOR  PRESERVING,  &c.         ^      3^5 

The  nation  can  never  give  back  its  confidence  to  a  mm  who,  mlfc 
to  his  trull,  perjured  to  h  s  oath,  confpires  a  clandeiline  flight,  ob- 
tain^ a  fraudulent  pailport,  conceals  a  king  of  France  under  the  dii- 
guife  of  a  valet,  direfts  his  courfe  towards  a  frontier  covered  with 
traitors  and  dcferters,  and  evidently  meditates  a  return  into  our  coun- 
try, with  a  force  capable  of  impofing  his  ov/n  delpotic  laws. 

Whether  ought  his  flight  to  be  confidered  as  his"  own  aft,  or  the 
aft  of  thofe  who  fled  with  him.  Was  it  a  fpontaneous  refolution  of 
his  own,  or  was  it  infpired  into  him  by  others?  The  alternative  is  im- 
material  :  Whethtn  fool  or  hypocrite,  idiot  or  traitor,  he  has  proved 
himfelf  equally  unworthy  of  the  vaft  important  fundiona  that  had 
been  del  ,;ated  to  him. 

In  rvery  feiife  that  the  queflion  can  be  confidered,  the  reciprocal 
obligfation  which  fubfiiled  between  us  is  dilTolved.  He  holds  no 
lonj^er  au'J^ority.  We  ewe  him  no  longer  obedience.  We  fee  in 
hir.  :,  :  mc'e  than  an  indifferent  perfon  ;  we  can  regard  him  only  as 
Lioui:-  -Jvpet. 

The  hiilory  of  France  prefents  little  die  than  a  long  feries  of  pub- 
lic calamity,  which  takes  its  iource  from  the  vices  of  the  king;  We 
have  been  the  wretched  vi6lims  that  have  never  ceafed  to  fuiTer  either 
for  them  or  by  them.  The  catalogue  of  their  oppreffions  was  ccrr- 
plete,  but  to  complete  the  fum  of  their  crimes,  treafon  yet  v/as  want- 
ing. Now  the  only  vacancy  is  iilled  up^  the  dreadful  liil  is  full : 
The  fyfl:em  is  exhauflied  :  There  are  no  remaining  errors  for  them  to 
commit,  their  reigi:  is  confequently  at  an  end. 

What  kind  of  office  mull  that  be  in  a  government  which  requires 
neither  experience  nor  ability  to  execute : — That  may  be  abandoned 
to  the  defperate  chance  of  birth,  that  may  be  filled  with  an  idiot,  a 
madman,  a  tyrant,  with  equal  crteft,  as  by  the  good,  the  virtuous 
and  the  wife.  An  ofiice  of  this  nature  is  a  mere  non-entity:  It  is  a 
place  of  Ihew,  not  of  ufe.  Let  France  then,  arri  ed  at  the  age  of 
reafon,  no  longer  be  deluded  by  the  found  of  words,  and  let  her  de- 
liberately examine,  if  aJcing,  however  infigniflcaut  and  contemptible 
in  hi    lelf,  may  not  at  the  fame  time  be  extremely  dangerous. 

The  thirty  millions  which  it  cods  t(j  fupport  a  king  in  the  eclat 
of  ftupid  brutal  lu  ury,  prefer.t  us  with  an  eafy  method  of  reducing 
taxes,  which  reductior,  would  at  once  releafe  the  people,  and  flop 
the  progrefs  of  political  corruption.  The  grandeur  of  nations  con- 
fiflsnot,  as  kings  pretend,  in  the  fplendour  of  thrones,  but  in  a  con- 
fpicuous  ienfe  of  their  own  dignity,  and  in  ajull  difdain  of  thofe  bar- 
barous follivS  md  crimes,  whicli,  under  the  fanCtion  of  royalty,  have 
hitherto  dcfolatcd  Europe, 


$66  PAINE's    WORKS^. 

As  to  the  pcrfonal  fafety  of  Mr.  Louis  Capet,  it  is  fo  much  the 
more  confirmed,  as  France  will  not  ftop  to  degrade  herfelf  by  a  fpirit 
of  revenge  againll  a  wretch,  who  has  diflionoiired  himfelf.  In  de- 
fending a  juft  and  glorious  caufe  it  is  not  poffible  to  degrade  it,  and 
the  univerfal  tranquility  whicli  prevails,*  is  an  undeniable  proof,  that 
a  free  people  know  how  to  refpecl  themfelves/' 

Having  thus  explained  the  principles  and  the  exertions  of  the  re- 
publicans at  that  fatal  period,  when  Louis  was  reinftated  in  full  pof- 
fcflionof  the  executive  power,  which  by  his  flight  had  been  fufpended, 
I  return  to  the  fubjeft,  and  to  the  deplorable  lituation  in  which  the 
man  is  now  actually  involved. 

What  was  negletfled  at  the  time  of  which  I  have  been  fpeaking, 
has  been  fince  brought  about  by  the  force  of  neceflity;  the  wiiful' 
treacherous  defefts  in  the  former  conilitution  Have  been  brought  to 
light,  the  continual  alarm  of  treafon  and  confpiracy  roufed  the  na- 
tion, and  produced  e\  entually  a  fecond  revolution.  The  people  have 
beat  down  royalty,  never,  never  to  rife  again ;  they  have  brought 
Louis  Capet  to  the  bar,  and  demonftrated  in  the  face  of  the  whole 
world  the  intrigues;^  the  cabals,  the  falfehood,  corruption  and  rooted 
depravity,  the  inevitable  effefts  of  monarchical  governments.  There 
remains  then  only  one  queftion  to  be  confidered,  what  is  to  be  done 
with  this  man  ? 

For  myfeif,  I  ferioufTy  confefs,  that  when  I  refledt  on  the  unac- 
countable folly  that  rellored  the  executive  power  to  his  hands,  all  co- 
vered as  he  was  with  perjury  and  treafon,  I  am  far  more  ready  to  con- 
demn the  conftituent  affembly  than  the  unfortunate  prifoner  Louis 
Capet. 

But  abflrafted  from  every  other  confideration,  there  is  one  cir- 
cumilance  in  his  life  which  ought  to  cover,  or  at  leall  to  palliate,  a 
great  number  of  his  tranfgreflions,  and  this  very  circum.ftance  affords 
the  French  nation  a  bleffed  occafion  of  extricating  itfelf  from  the  yoke 
of  kings,  without  defihng  itfelf  in  the  impurities  of  their  blood. 

It  is  to  France  alone,  I  know,  that  the  United  States  of  America 
owe  that  fupport  which  enabled  them  to  fliake  off  the  unjuft  and  ty- 
rannical yoke  of  Britain. — The  ardour  and  zeal  which  fhe  difplayed 
to  provide  both  men  and  money,  were  the  natural  confequences  of  a 
thirft  for  liberty.  But  as  the  nation  at  that  time,  reftrained  by  the 
fhackles  of  her  own  government,  could  only  a6l  by  the  mcan&  of  a 
monarchical  organ,  this  organ — whatever  In  other  refpeds  the  obje6l 
mio-ht  be,  certainly  performed  a  good,  a  great  action.  Let  then 
thele  United  States  be  the  fafeguard  and  afylum  of  Louis  Capet. 
There,  hereafter,  far  removed  from  the  miferies  and  crimes  of  royalty. 


1R.EAS0NS  FOR  PRESERVING,  &c.  367 

^e  may  learn,  from  the  conftant  afpeft  of  public  profperity,  that  the 
trvie  fyllem  of  government  confifts  not  in  kings,  but  in  fair,  equals 
and  honourable  rcprefentation. 

In  relating  this  circumftance,  and  in  fubmitting  this  propolitlon 
1  confider  myfelf  as  a  citizen  of  both  countries.  I  fubmit  it  as  a  ci- 
tizen of  America,  who  feels  the  debt  of  gratitude  which  he  owes  to 
every  Frenchman.  I  fubmit?  it  alfo  as  a  man,  wlio,  although  the 
enemy  of  kings,  cannot  forget  that  they  are  fubje6l  to  human 
frailties. 

I  fupport  my  propofition  as  a  citizen  of  the  French  republic,  be- 
taufe  it  appears  to  me  the  bed,  the  moil  politic  meafure,  that  can  be 
adopted.  ' 

As  far  as  my  experience  in  public  life  extends,  I  have  ever  obferved, 
that  the  great  mafs  of  the  people  are  invariably  juft,  botli  in  their  in- 
tentions and  in  their  object :  but  the  true  method  of  accomplilliing 
that  effedl,  does  not  always  fhew  itfelf  in  the  firil  inftance. 

For  example,  the  Englifli  nation  had  groaned  under  the  defpotifm 
of  the  Stuarts.  Mence  Charles  the  firll  loft  his  life;  yet  Charles  the 
fecond  was  reftored  to  all  the  plenitude  of  power,  which  his  father 
had  loft. 

Forty  yeafs  had  not  expired,  when  the  fame  family  ftrove  to  re- 
cftabhfti  their  ancient  oppreflions;  fo  the  nation  then  baniftied  from 
in  territories  the  whole  race.  The  remedy  was  effedlual.  The 
Stuart  family  funk  into  obfcurity,  crouded  itfelf  with  the  multitude, 
and  is  at  length  extindl. 

The  French  nation,  more  enlightened  than  England  was  at  that 
time,  has  carried  her  meafures  of  government  to  a  greater  length. 
France  is  not  fatisfied  with  expollng  the  guilt  of  the  monarch,  fhe 
lias  penetrated  into  the  views  and  horrors  of  the  monarchy.  She  ha^? 
ftievvn  them  clear  as  day  light,  and  forever  cruftied  that  infv.;rnal  fyf- 
tem ;  and  he,  whoever  he  may  be,  that  fliould  ever  dare  to  reclaim 
thofe  rights,  he  would  be  regarded  not  as  a  pretender,  but  punifhed 
gs  X  traitor. 

Two  brothers  of  Louis  Capet  have  baniflied  themfelves  from  the 
country;  but  they  are  obhged  to  bear  with  the  fpirit  and  etiquetrv  of 
the  courts  where  they  refide.  They  can  advance  no  pretenfions  on 
their  own  account,  fo  long  as  Louis  Capet  fhall  live. 

The  hiftory  of  monarchy  in  France,  was  a  fyttem  pre^-nant  with 
crimes  and  murders,  cancelling  all  natural  ties,  even  thofe  by  which 
brothers  are  united.  We  know  how  often  they  have  afla^nated  each 
other  to  pave  a  way  to  power.  As  thofe  hopes  which  the  emigrants 
had  rccofcd  ir;  Louis  XVI.  are  fled,  the  laft  which  remains  refts  upon 


368  PAINE*s    WORICS. 

.his  death,  and  their  lituation  inclines  them  to  defirc  this  cataftrophe, 
that  they  may  once  again  rally  round  a  niore  2:live  chief,  a.u^  try 
one  further  effort  under  the  fortune  of  the  ci-devdnt  ir.onfieur  and 
d'Artois. 

That  fuch  an  enterprize  would  precipitate  them  into  a  new  abyfs 
of  calamity  and  difgrace  it  is  not  difficult  to  fcrefee;  but  yet  it  nught 
be  attended  with  mutual  lofs,  and  it  is  our  duty,  as  legifjatorGj  not  to 
fpill  a  drop  of  blood,  when  our  purpofe  may  be  effectually  accom- 
pli filed  without  it. 

It  has  already  been  prdpofed  to  abolifh  the  punifhment  of  death  : 
and  it  is  with  iniinite  fatisfaftion,  that  I  recoliecl  the  humane  and 
excellent  oration  pronounced  by  Roberfpierre,  on  that  fubjcct,  in  the 
conftituent  afTembly.  This  caufe  mull  find  its  advocates  in  every  cor- 
ner, where  enlightened  politiciaiis,  and  lovers  of  humanity  exiil;  and 
it  ouirht  above  all  to  find  them  in  this  affembly. 

Mo;  arcliical  o-overnments  have  trained  the  human  race,  and  inured 
it  to  the  fanguinary  arts  and  refinements  of  punifliment ;  and  it  is  ex- 
actly the  fame  pnnifnment,  which  has  fo  long  fliocked  the  fight  and 
tormented  the  patience  of  the  people;  that  now,  in  their  turn,  they 
pradife  in  revenge  on  their  opprefTors.  Eut  it  becomes  us  to  be 
llriSly  on  our  guard  againft  the  abomination  and  perverfity  of  monar- 
chical cxcmplea:  As  France  has  been  the  firft  of  European  nations  to 
abolifii  royalty,  let  her  alfo  be  the  firft  to  abolifh  the  punifliment  of 
death,  and  to  find  out  a  milder  and  more  eifcdual  fubltitutc. 

In  the  particular  cafe  now  under  confideration,  I  fuhmit  the  fol- 
lowing propcfitionj,: — ift.  That  the  national  convention  fi-iall  pro- 
nounce fentence  of  banill)ment  on  Louis  andjtis  family.  2d.  That 
Louis  Capet  (hail  be  detained  in  prifon  till  the  end  of  the  Vv-ar  ;  and  at 
that  epoch  the  fentence  of  banifhiiKnt  to  be  executed. 


EXD  OF  FJINE'S  POLITICAL  IVRITINGS. 


T    H    E 


AGE    OI    REASON, 


BEING      AN 

t 

INVESTIGATION 


o  f 


TRUE   AND    OF    FABULOUS 


THEOLOGY. 


By    THOMAS    PAINE, 


CITIZEN  AND  CULTIVATOR   OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA 

SECRETARY     FOR      FOREIGN       AFFAIRS       TO       CONGRESS        IN 

THE     AMERICAN    WAR  ; AND     AUTHOR     OF     THE     WORKS 

ENTITLED,     *  COMMON  SENSE,    AND   RIGHTS    OF   MAN.' 


PHILADELPHIA: 
PRINTED  BY  JAMES  CAREY,  No.  85,  North  Second.Strect. 


T  O       M  Y 

FELLOW     CITIZENS 

O    F    T  H  E 

UNITED    STATES    OF    AMERICA. 

0  W 

T 

A  PUT"  the  following  workr'undef  y6uT  pioteBion. 
It  contains  my  opinion  upon  ReligionV  You  .will  do. 
me  the  jullice  to^  remember,  that  ^  'hafe'.ylways 
ftreBuouOy  fupported  the  Right  of  ever)^.  Man  ,,toihis 
own  opinion,  however  different  that  opmion-  migfit  be 
to  mine.  He  who  (;lenies  toanpdier  this  righuVmakes 
a  flave  of  himfelf  to  his  prefent  opinion,  becaiif^  he 

precludes  himfelf  the  right  of  changing' it.  '     ' 

'-  *  .'  \ 

The    mofl    formiSable    w'^tfpbif  agai^ft'^ri^r^*of 

-••■♦•  «-^  ••  •• 

Cverv  kind  is  Reafon.  I  have  never \ufed  any  other, 
and  I  trull  I  ne^er  fliall,   ' 

Your  affe^ionate  fiiend  and  fellow  citizen, 
THOMAS  PAINE. 


PariSy   ^thPiuvic/tj 
Second  Tear  of  iloe  French  Republlc^one  ^ud  hidi-o'if.ble, 
January   27,    0\S,    1794. 


Jo  t^^    AuXA^>^Wfc^J^.»^^ 


^ 


^^ A>>k.  -liOy^  n^'dr ^^^^^^     ^'taiTt- ^tCi^    ^*<^^  yU^^^*^.    AJ    Aw , 

r-^A^^^  ^^^^  >fe^<^^  ^^  ^v^  z^-^- 


■■mi^ii  •'r\'m('yts!f9''fa^s^^!^^s^sBssasaBA'B:9fsak 


THE 


AGE    OF    REASON. 


PART         I. 


I 


T  has  been  my  intention,  for  feveral  3^cars  paft,  to  publiih  my 
thoughts  upon  religion.  I  am  v/ell  aware  of  the  difficulties  that 
attend  the  fubjedl;  and  from  that  confideration  had  referved  it  to  a 
more  advanced  period  of  life.  I  intended  it  to  be  the  laft  cffering  I 
Ihojid  make  to  my  fellow  citizens  of  all  nations ;  and  that  at  ;i  time, 
when  the  purity  of  the  motive  that  induced  me  to  it,  coiiid  not 
admit  of  a  queftion,  even  by  thofe  who  might  difapprove  the  work. 

The  circumftance  that  has  now  taken  place  in  France,  of  the  total 
abolition  of  the  whole  national  order  of  pricilhood,  and  of  every 
thing  appertaining  to  compulfive  fyilems  of  religion,  and  compuilive 
articles  of  faith,  has  not  only  precipitated  my  intention,  but 
rendered  a  work  of  this  kind  exceedingly  necefTary ;  Icll,  in  the 
general  wreck  of  fuperilition,  of  faife  fyltems  of  government,  and 
falfe  theology,  we  lofe  fight  of  morality,  of  humanity,  and  of  the 
theology  that  is  true. 

As  feveral  of  my  colleagues,  and  others  of  my  fello^v  citizens  cf 
France,  have  given  me  the  example  cf  making  their  voluntary  and 
individual  prcfeffion  of  faith,  I  alfo  v/ill  make  mine;  and  I  do  this 
,with  all  that  iincerity  and  franknefs  with  v/hich  rhe  mind  cf  man 
communicates  v/ith  itfelf.    . 

I  believe  in  one  God,  and  no  more;  and  I  here  for  happinefs 
beyond  this  life. 

I  believe  the  equality  of  man,  and  I  believe  that  religious  dudes 
confift  in  doing  juflice,  loving  mercy,  aroi  endeavoring  to  make  car 
fellow  creatures  happy. 


d  PAINE's    WORKS.* 

But  left  it  fliould  be  fuppofed  that  I  believe  many  other  things  in 
addition  to  thefe,  I  fhall,  in  the  progrefs  of  this  work,  declare  the 
things  I  do  not  believe,  and  my  reafons  for  not  believing  them* 

I  do  not  believe  in  the  creed  profeiTed  by  the  Jewilh  church,  by 
the  Roman  church,  by  the  Greek  church,  by  the  Turkilb  church, 
by  the  Proteflant  church,  nor  by  any  church  that  I  know  of.  My 
own  mind  is  my  own  church.  ^/^^%1  ^i   i.i4;r%^jn^~    t^hi-  t.\r  iA^  C%  , 

Ail  national  inftitutions  of  churches,  whether  Jewilh,  Chriftian, 
X)r  Turkifh,  appear  to  me  no  other  than  human  inventions  fet  up  to 
terrify  and  enflave  mankind,  and  monopolize  power  and  profit. 

I  do  not  mean  by  this  declaration  to  condemn  thofe  who  believe 
otherwifc.  They  have  the  fame  right  to  their  belief  as  I  have  to 
mine.  But  it  is  neceffary  to  the  happinefs  of  man,  that  he  be  mentally 
faithful  tohimfelf.  Infidelity  does  not  confift  in  believing  or  in  difbe- 
lieving  :  it  ccnfiils  in  profeiTmg  to  believe  whsLt  he  does  not  believe; 

It  is  impoiTible  to  calculate  the  moral  mifchief,  if  I  may  fo 
exprefs  it,  that  mental  lying  has  produced  in  fociety.  When  a 
man  has  fo  far  corrupted  and  prcftituted  the  chaftity  of  his  mind,  as 
to  fubfcribe  his  profelTional  belief  to  things  he  does  not  believe, 
he  has  prepared  himfelf  for  the  ccmmiirion  of  every  other  crime. 
Ke  takes  up  the  trade  of  a  priefl  for  the  fake  of  gain,  and  in  order 
to  qualify  himfelf  for  that  trade,  he  begins  with  a  perjury.  Can 
we  conceive  any  thing  more  deftructive  to  mordlity  than  this  ? 

Soon  after  I  had  publiilied  the  pamphlet,  "  Common  Senfe/'  iri 
America,  I  faw  the  exceeding  probability  that  a  revolution  in  the 
fyftem  of  government,  would  be  followed  by  a  revolution  in  the 
fyilem  of  religion.  The  adulterous  connexion  of  church  and  ft  ate, 
wherever  it  had  taken  place,  whether  Jewilh,  Chriftian,  or  Turkifh, 
had  fo  effefiuaily  prohibited,  by  pains  and  penalties,  every  difcuiTion 
upon  eftabliihed  creeds,  and  upon  firft  principles  of  religion,  that 
until  the  fyllem  of  governm.ent  fhould  be  changed,  thofe  fubjeifts 
could  not  be  brought  fairly  and  openly  before  the  world  :  but  that 
wljenever  this  (hould  be  done,  a  revolution  in  the  fyftem  of  religion 
would  follow.  Human  inventions  and  prieftcraft  would  be  detefted  ; 
and  man  would  return  to  the  pure,  unmixed,  and  unadulterated  belief 
of  one  God,  and  no  more.  * 

Every  national  church  or  religion  has  eftabliftied  itfelf  by  pretend- 
ing fomefpecialmiffion  from  God  communicated  to  certain  individuals. 
The  Jews  have  their  Mofes ;  the  Chriftians  their  Jefus  Chrift,  their 
apoftles  and  faints  ;  and  the  Turks  their  Mahomet  ;  as  if  the  way 
to  God  was  not  open  to  every  man  alike. 


Part  I.  .AGE    O  F    R  E  A  S  O  N,  7 

.Each  of  thofe  churches  iliew  certain  books  which  they  call 
re^datmi,  or  the  word  of  God.  The  Jews  fay  that  their  word  ot 
God  was  given  by  God  to  Mofes,  face  to  face ;  the  Chriilians  fi., , 
that  their  word  of  God  came  by  divine  infpiration  ;  and  the  Turks 
fay  that  their  word  of  God  [the  Koran]  was  brought  by  an  Angel 
from  heaven.  Each  of  thofe  churches  accufes  the  other  of  unbelief; 
and,  for  my  own  part,   I  dilbelieve  them  all. 

As  it  is  neceifary  to  fix  right  ideas  to  words,  I  v/iil,  before  I 
proceed  further  into  the  fubjed,  offer  fome  obfervations  on  the  word 
re'vela/'.on.  Revelation,  when  applied  to  religion,  means  fomething 
communicated  if/imediately  from  God  to  man. 

No  one  will  deny  or  difpute  the  power  of  the  Almighty  to  make 
fuch  a  communication  if  ht  pleafes.  But  admitting,  for  the  fake  of 
a  cafe,  that  fomething  has  been  revealed  to  a  certain  perfon,  and  not 
revealed  to  any  other  perfon,  it  is  revelation  to  that  perfon  only. 
When  he  tells  it  to  a  fecond  perfon,  a  fecond  to  a  third,  a  third  to 
a  fourth,  and  fo  on,  it  ceafes  to  be  a  revelation  to  all  thofe  perfons. 
It  is  revelation  to  the  firft  perfon  only,  and  hear/ay  to  every  other ; 
and  confequently  they  are  not  obliged  to  believe  it. 

It  is  acontradiftion  in  terms  and  ideas,  to  call  any  thing  a  revelation 
that  comes  to  us  at  fecond  hand,  either  verbally  or  in  writing. 
Revelation  is  neceifarily  limited  to  the  firft  communication.  After  , 
thfs,  it  is  only  an  account  of  fomething  which  that  perfon  fays  was 
a  revelation  made  to  him ;  and  though  he  may  find  himfelf  obliged 
to  believe  it,  it  cannot  be  incumbent  on  me  to  believe  it  in  the  fame 
manner,  for  it  was  not  a  revelation  made  totncy  .and  I  have  only  his 
word  for  it  that  it  was  made  to  7^77.   J^)   M-  l^^i^r---r.-^-'^^-^<^--  fi?df -" 

When  Mofes  told  the  children  of  If^ael  that  he  received  the  two 
tables  of  the  commandments  from  the  hand  of  God,  they  were  not 
obliged  to  believe  him,  becaufe  they  had  no  other  authority  for  it 
than  his  telling  them  fo ;  and  I  have  no  other  authority  for  it  than 
fome  hiftorian  telling  me  fo,   the  commandments  carrying  no  internal 
evidence  of  divinity  with  them.     They  contain  fome  good  morali 
precepts,  fuch  as  any  man  qualified  to  be  a  law-giver,  or  a  legiflator,)  -i 
could   produce  himfelf,  without    having   recourfe  to  fupernaturalj 
intervention.* 

*  This  iSy  honxie'very  necejjary  to  except  the  declaration,  ivhich/ays, 
that  GoJ  vifits  the  fins  of  the  father  upon  the  children.  It  is  centra^ 
t9  enjery  principle  of  moral jzijiice,  -*     - 


> 


8  PAINE's     WORKS. 

When  I  am  told  that  the  Koran  was  written  in  heaven,  and  brought 
to  Mahomet  by  an  angel,  the  account  com.es  to  near  the  famxC  kind 
of  hearfay  evidence,  and  fecond-hand  authority,  as  the  former.  I 
did  not  fee  the  angel  myfelf,  and  therefore  I  have  a  right  not  to 
believe  it. 

When  alfo  I  am  told  that  a  woman,  called  the  Virgin  Mary,  faid, 
or  gave  out,  that  fhe  was  with  child,  v/ithout  any  cohabitation 
with  a  man,  and  that  her  betrothed  hufoand,  Jofeph,  faid,  that  an 
angel  told  him  fo,  I  have  a  right  to  believe  them  or  not ;  fuch  a 
circumliance  required  a  much  ilronger  evidence  than  their  bare  word 
for  it :  but  we  have  not  even  this ;  for  neither  Jofeph  nor  Mary 
wrote  any  fuch  matter  themfelves.  It  is  only  reported  by  others 
that  they  faidfo.  It  is  hearfay  upon  hearfa}',  and  I  do  not  chufe 
to  reft  my  belief  upon  fuch  evidence. 

It  is^  however,  not  difficult  to  account  for  the  credit  that  was 
given  to  the  ftory  of  Jefus  Chriil  being  the  fon  of  God.  He  was 
born  when  the  heathen  mythology  had  Hill  fome  fafhion  and  repute 
in  the  world,  and  that  mythology  had  prepared  the  people  for  the 
belief  of  fuch  a  ftory.  Almoft  all  the  extraordinary  men  that  lived 
under  the  heathen  mythology,  were  reputed  to  be  the  fons  of  fome 
of  their  gods.  It  was  not  a  new  thing  at  that  time  to  believe  a  man 
to  have  been  celeftially  begotten:  the  intercourfe  of  gods  with 
women  was  then  a  matter  of  familiar  opinion.  Their  Jupiter, 
according  to  their  accounts,  had  cohabited  with  hundreds :  the  ftory, 
therefore,  had  nothing  in  it  either  new,  wpnderful,  orobfcene:  it 
was  conformable  to  the  opinions  that  then  prevailed  among  the 
people  called  Gentiles,  or  mythologifts,  and  it  was  thofe  people 
only  that  believed  it.  The  Jews,  who  had  kept  ftridly  to  the 
bfelief  of  one  God,  and  no  more,  and  who  had  always  rejected  the 
heathen  mythology,  never  credited  the  ftory. 

It  is  curious  to  obferve  how  the  theory  of  what  is  called  the 
Chriftian  church,  fprung  out  of  the  tail  of  the  heathen  mythology. 
A  direct  incorporation  took  place  in  the  firft  inftance,  by  making  the 
reputed  founder  to  be  celeftially  begotten.  The  trinity  of  gods  that 
then  followed,  was  no  other  than  a  reduftion  of  the  former  plurality, 
which  was  about  twenty  cr  thirty  thoufand.  The  ftatue  of  Mary 
fucceeded  the  ftatue  of  Diana  of  Ephefus.  The  deification  of 
heroes,  changed  into  the  canonization  of  faints.  The  mythologifts 
had  gods  for  every  thing:  the  Chriftian  mythologifts  had  faints  for 
every  thing.  The  church  became  as  crowded  with  the  one,  as  the 
pantheon  had  been  with  the  other;  and  Rome  was  the  place  of  both. 


Part  I.  A  G  E     O  F    R  E  A  S  O  N.  5 

The  Chriflian  theory  is  little  elfe  than  the  idolatiy  of  the  ancient 
mythoiogifts,  accommodated  to  the  purpofes  of  power  and  revenue; 
and  it  yet  remains  to  reafon  and  philofophy  to  abolilh  the  amphibi- 
ous fraud. 

Nothing  that  is  here  faid  can  apply,  even  with  the  moll  dillant 
difrefpeft,  to  the  real  charafter  of  Jefus  Chrift.  He  was  a  virtuous 
and  an  amiable  man.  The  morality  that  he  preached  and  pra(^ifed 
was  of  the  moft  benevolent  kind  ;  and  though  fimilar  fyftems  of 
morality  had  been  preached  by  Confucius,  and  by  feme  of  the 
Greek  philofophers,  many  years  before  ;  by  the  Quakers  fmce  ; 
and  by  many  good  men  in  all  ages  j  it  has  not  been  exceeded  by 
any. 
7^  Jefus  Chrift  wrote  no  account  of  himfclf,  of  his  birth,  parentage, 
or  any  thing  €'Sz,  Not  a  line  of  what  is  called  the  New  Teftament 
is  of  his  writing.  The  hiilory  of  him  is  altogether  the  work  of 
other  people;  and  as  to  the  account  given  of  his  refurreftion  and 
afcenfion,  it  was  the  neceilary  counterpart  to  the  ftory  of  his  birth. 
His  hiftorians,  having  brought  him  into  the  world  in  a  fupernatural 
iDc  nner,  were  obliged  to  take  him  out  again  in  the  fame  manner, 
or  the  firft  part  of  the  ftory  muft  have  fallen  to  the  ground. 

The  wretched  contrivance  with  which  this  latter  part  is  told, 
exceeds  every  thing  that  went  before  it.  The  firft  part,  that  of 
the  miraculous  conception,  was  for  a  thing  that  admitted  of  pub- 
licity ;  and  therefore  the  tellers  of  this  part  of  the  ftory,  had  this 
advantage,  that  though  they  might  not  be  credited,  they  could  not 
be  detefted.  They  could  not  be  expedled  to  prove  \t,  becaufe  it 
"Was  not  one  of  thofe  things  that  admitted  of  proof,  and  it  was 
impoffible  that  the  perfon  of  v/hom  it  was  told,  could  prove  it 
himfelf. 

But  the  refurredion  of  a  dead  perfon  from  the  grave,  and  his 
afcenfion  through  the  air,  is  a  thing  very  difFcrcnt  as  to  the 
evidence  it  admits  of,  to  the  invifible  conception  of  a  child  in  the 
womb.  The  refurredticn  and  afcenfion,  fuppoiing  them  to  have  taken 
place,  admitted  of  public  and  ocular  demonftration,  like  that  of  the 
afcenfion  of  a  balloon,  or  the  fun  at  noon  day,  to  all  Jerufahnj  at 
leaft.  A  thing  which  every  body  is  required  to  believe,  requires 
that  the  proof  and  evidence  of  it  fhouid  be  equal  to  all,  and 
univerfal;  and  as  the  public  vifibility  of •  this  laft  related  act 
was  the  only  evidence  that  could  give  fanftion  to  the  former  part, 
the  whole  of  it  falls  to  the  ground,  becaufe  that  evidence  never  was 
given,     Inftead  of  this,  a  fmall  number  of  perfcns,  not  more  than 


10  PAINE's     WORKS. 

eight  or  nine,  are  introduced  as  proxies  for  the  whole  world,  to  fay, 
theyy^'zu  ify  and  all  the  reft  of  the  world  are  called  upon  to  believe 
it.  But  it  appears  that  Thomas  did  not  believe  the  refarredlion ;  and 
as  they  fay,  would  not  believe,  without  having  ocular  and  manual 
demonftration  himfelf.  So  neither  •will  I ;  and  the  reafon  is  equally 
as  good  for  ine,  and  for  every  other  perfon,  as  for  Thomas. 

It  is  in  vain  to  attempt  to  palliate  or  difguife  this  matter.  The 
flory,  fo  far  as  relates  to  the  fupernatural  part,  has  every  mark  of 
fraud  and  impoiition  {lamped  upon  the  face  of  it.  Who  were  the 
authors  of  it  is  as  impoihble  for  us  now  to  knov/,  as  it  is  for  us  to  be 
iifTured,  that  the  books  in  which  the  account  is  related,  were  written 
by  the  perfons  whofe  names  they  bear.  ^  The  beft  furviving  evidence 
we  now  have,  refpefting  this  affair,  is  the  Jews.  They  are  regularly 
defcended  from  the  people  who  lived  in  the  times  this  refurredlion 
and  afcenfion  is  faid  to  have  happened,  and  they  fay,  it  is  riot  true.  It 
has  lono-  appeared  to  me  a  llrange  inconfiftency,  to  cite  the  Jews  as  a 
proof  of  the  truth  of  the  ftory.'  It  is  juft  the  fame  as  if  a  man  were 
to  fay,  I  will  prove  the  truth  of  what  I  have  told  you,  by  producing 
the  people  who  fay  it  is  falfe. 

That  fuch  a  perfon  as  Jefus  Chrift  exifted,  and  that  he  was  crucified, 
which  was  the  mode  of  execution  at  that  day,  are  hiftorical  relations 
Uriftly  within  the  limits  of  probability.  He  preached  moft  excellent 
morality,  and  the  equality  of  man;  but  he  preached  alfo  againft  the 
corruptions  and  avarice  of  the  Jewifh  priefts ;  and  this  brought  upon 
him  the  hatred  and  vengeance  of  the  whole  order  of  priefthood.  The 
accufation  which  thofe  priefts  brought  againft  him,  was  that  of 
fedition  and  confpiracy  againft  the  Roman  government,  to  which 
the  Jews  were  then  fubjeft  and  tributary;!  and  it  is  not  improbable 
that  the  Roman  government  might  have  fome  fecret  apprehenfion  of 
the  eiTe^ls  of  his  doctrine,  as  well  as  the  Jewilh  priefts ;  neither  is 
■  it  improbable  that  Jefus  Chrift  had  in  contemplation  the  delivery  of 
the  Jewilh  nation  from  the  bondage  of  the  Romans.  Between  the 
tv/o,  however,  this  virtuous  reformer  and  revolutionift  loft  his  life. 

It  is  upon  this  plain  narrative  of  fads,  together  with  another  cafe 
I  am  going-  to  mention,  that  the  Chriftian  mythologifts,  calling 
themfelves  the  Chriftian  church,  have  erefted  their  fable,  which 
ibr  abfurditity  and  extravagance,  is  not  exceeded  by  any  thing  that 
is  to  be  found  in  the  mythology  of  the  ancients* 

The  ancient  m.ythologifts  tell  that  the  race  of  giants  made  war 
ao-ainft  Jupiter,  and  that  one  of  them  threv/  an  hundred  rocks  againft 
liim  at  one  throw;  that  Jupiter  defeated  him  with  thunder,  and 


Part  I.  A  G  E    O  F    R  E  A  S  O  N.  ii 

confined  him  afterwards  under  Mount  Etna ;  and  that  every  time  the 
giant  turns  himfelf.  Mount  Etna  belches  fire.  It  is  here  eafy  to  foe 
that  the  circumftance  of  the  mountain,  that  of  its  being  a  voicancj 
fuggefted  the  idea  of  the  fable ;  and  that  the  fable  is  made  to  fit  and 
wind  itfelf  up  with  that  circumftance. 

The  Chriftian  mythologifts  tell  that  their  Satan  made  war  agair.il 
the  Almighty,  who  defeated  him,  and  confined  him  afterwards,  not 
under  a  mountain,  but  in  a  pit.    'It  is  here  eafy  to  fee  that  the  firft 
fable  lluggefted  the  idea  of  the  fecond ;  for  the  fable  of  Jupiter  and    \ 
the  Giants  was  told  many  hundred  years  before  that  of  Satan. 

Thus  far  the  ancient  and  the  Chriftian  mythologifts  differ  very 
little  from  each  other.  But  the  latter  have  contrived  to  carry  the 
matter  much  farther.  They  have  contrived  to  conneift  the  fabulous 
part  of  the  ftory  of  Jefus  Chrift  with  the  fable  originating  from 
Mount  Etna:  and  in  order  to  make  all  parts  of  the  ftory  tie 
together,  they  have  taken  to  their  aid  the  traditions  of  the  Jews ; 
for  the  Chriftian  mythology  is  made  up  partly  from  the  ancient 
mythology,  and  partly  from  the  Jev/ifti  traditions. 

The  Chriftian  mythologifts,  after  having  confined  Satan  in  a  pit, 
were  obliged  to  let  him  out  again,  to  bring  on  the  fequel  of  the  fable. 
He  is  then  introduced  into  the  garden  of  Eden  in  the  iliape  of  a 
fnake,  or  a  ferpent,  and  in  that  ftiape  he  enters  into  familiar  conver- 
fation  with  Eve,  who  is  no  ways  furprifed  to  hear  a  fnake  talk  ; 
and  the  iffue  of  this  tete-a-tete  is,  that  he  perfuades  her  to  eat  an 
apple,  and  the  eating  of  that  apple,  damns  all  mankind. 

After  giving  Satan  this   triumph  over  the  whole  creation,   one 

would  have  fuppofed  that  the  church  mythologifts  v/ould  have  been 

kind  enough  to  fend  him  back  again  to  the  pit ;  or,   if  they  had 

not  done  this,  that  they  would  have  put  a  mountain  upon  him,  (Tor 

they  fay  that  their  faith  can  remove  a  mountairi)  or  have  put  him 

under  a  mountain,  as  the  former  mythologifts  had  done,  to 'prevent 

his  getting  again  among  the  women,  and  doing  more  mifchief.     But 

itiftead  of  this,  they  leave  him  at  large  without  even  obliging  him  to 

give  his  parole.     The  fecret  of  which  is,   that  they  could  not  do 

without  him  ;   and  after  being  at  the  trouble  of  making  him,   they 

bribed  him  to  ftay.     They  promifed  him  all  the  Jews,  all  the 

'-t'^M^j-, Turks  by    anticipation,    nine-tenths    of    the  world    bende,    aiKl 

rvtW'""  Mahomet  into  the  bargain.     After  this,  who  can  doubt  the  boun- 

ICul,     tifulnefs  of  the  Chriftian  mythology  t 

Having  thus  made  an  infurredion  and  a  battle  in  heaven,  in 
u-hich  none  of  the  combatants  could  be  either  killed  or  wounded— 

B  2 


K 


Vi/'yv*'-*-^^^^, 


It  PAINE's    WORKS. 

put  Satan  into  the  pit — let  him  out  again — given  him  a  triumph 
over  the  whole  creation — damned  all  mankind  by  the  eating  of  an 
apple,  chefe  Chriftian  mythologies  bring  the  two  ends  of  their  fable 
together.  Ihey  reprefcnt  this  virtuous  and  amiable  man,  Jefus 
Chrifl,  to  be  at  once  both  God  and  man,  and  alfo  the  fon  of  God, 
ceiefiially  begotten  en  purpofe  to  be  facriiiced,  becaufe,  they  fay, 
that  Eve,  in  her  longing,  had  eaten  an  apple. 

Putting  afide  every  thing  that  might  excite  laughter  by  its 
abfurdity,  or  deteftationby  its  prophaneners,.and  confining  ourfelves 
merely  to  an  examination  of  the  parfs,  it  is  impofiibie  to  conceive 
a  ftory  more  derogatory  to  the  Almighty,  more  inconfiflent  with 
his  wifdom,  more  contradictory  to  his  power,  than  this  llory  is. 

In  order  to  m.ake  for  it  a  foundation  to  rife  upon,  the  inventors 
weic  under  the  neceffity  of  giving  to  the  being,  whom  they  call 
Satan,  a  power  equally  as  great,  if  not  greater,  than  they  attribute 
to  the  Almighty.  They  have  not  only  given  him  the  power  of 
liberating  himfelf  from  the  pit,  after  what  they  call  his  fall,  but 
they  have  made  that  pov/er  increafe  afterwards  to  infinity.  Before  . 
his  fall,  they  reprefent  him  only  as  an  angel  of  limited  exiftence, 
as  they  reprefent  the  reft.  After  his  fall,  he  becomes,  by  their 
account,  omniprefent.  He  exifts  every  where,  and  at  the  fam.e 
time.     He  occupies  the  v/hole  immenfity  of  fpace.     ;j^' ' 

Not  content  with  this  deification  of-  Satan,  they  reprefent  him  as 
defeating  by  ftratsgem,  in  the  fhape  of  an  animal  of  the  creation, 
ail  the  power  and  wifdom  of  the  Almighty.,  They  reprefent  him. 
as  having  compelled  the  Almighty  to  the  i^ire  yiecejjity  either  of 
Tur rendering  the  whole  of  the  creation  to  the  government  and 
fovereignty  of  this  Satan,  or  of  capitulating  for  its  redemption,  by 
coming  down  upon  earth,  and  exhibiting  himfelf  upon  a  crofs  in  the 
uip.pe  of  a  man.  Had  the  inventors  of  this  ilory  told  it  the  contrary 
way,  that  is,  had  they  reprefented  the  Almighty  as  compelling 
Ga:an  to  exhibit  h'lmjdf  on  a  crofs  in  the  iliape  of  a  fnake,  as  a 
punidiment  for  his  new  tranfgrelTions,  the  llory  would  have  been  iefs 
abfurd,  lefs  contradiiTiory.  But  inftead  of  this,  they  make  the 
tranfgrelfor  triumpli,  and  the  Almighty  fall. 

That  many  good  men  have  believed  this  ftrange  fable,  and  lived 
very  good  lives  under  that  belief,  (for  credulity  is  not  a  crime)  is 
what  1  ha^^eno  doubt  of.  In  the  firil  place,  they  were  educated  to 
believe  it,  and  they  would  have  believed  any  thing  elfe  in  the  fame 
manner. '  There  are  alfo  many  who  have  been  fo  enthufiaftically 
enraptured  by  what  they  conceived  to  be  the  infinite  love  of  God  to 


Part  I,  AGE    OF    REASON.  13 

man,  in  milking  a  facrifice  of  himfelf,  that  the  vehemence  of  the 
idea  has  forbidden  and  deterred  them  from  examining  into  the 
abfurdity  and  profanenefs  of  the  ilory.  The  more  unnatural  any 
thing  is,  the  more  it  is  capable  of  becoming  the  objeft  of  difmal 
admiration. 

But  if  obje<5ts  for  gratitude  and  admiration  are  our  defire,  do  they  -i 
not prefent  themfeU'es  every  hour  to  our  eyes?  Do  we  not  fee  fair; 
creation  prepared  to  receive  us   the  inilant  we  are  born ;  a  world 
furniflied  to  our  hand  that  coft  us  nothing  ?  Is  it  we  that  light  up  the 
fun;  that  pour  dovvm  the  rain;  and  fill  the  earth  with  abundance?'', 
Whether  we  fleep  or  v/ake,  the  vaft  machinery  of  the  univerfe  dill 
goes  on.     Are  thefe  things,  and  the  bleffings  they  indicate  in  future,  ; 
nothing  to  us?  Can  ourgrofs  feelings  be  excited  by  no  other  fubjetts 
than  tragedy  and  fuicide  ?  Or  is  the  gloomy  pride  of  man  become  fo 
intolerable,  that  nothing  can  flatter  it  but  a  facrifice  of  the  Creator  ?    ' 

I  know  that  this  bold  inveftigation  will  alarm  many,  but  it  would 
be  paying  too  great  a  compliment  to  their  credulity  to  forbear  it 
upon  that  account.  The  times  and  the  fabjeft  demand  it  to  be  done. 
The  fufpicion  that  the  theory  of  v/hat  is  called  the  Chrillian  church 
is  fabulous,  is  becoming  very  extenfive  in  all  countries ;  and  it  v/ill 
be  a  confolation  to  men  daggering  under  that  fufpicion,  and  doubting 
what  to  believe,  and  what  to  diibelieve,  to  fee  the  fubjecl  freely 
inveiligated.  I  therefore  pafs  on  to  an  examination  of  the  books 
called  the  Old  and  the  New  Teflament, 

Thefe  books,  beginning  with  Genefis  and  ending  with  the 
Revelations,  (v/hich  by  the  bye  is  a  boolyof-^^iiidies)  that  requires  a 
revelation  to  explain  it)" are,  we  are  told,  the  word  of  God.  It  is 
therefore  proper  for  us  to  know  who  told  us  fo,  that  we  may  know 
what  credit  to  give  to  the  report.  The  anfwer  to  this  quefcicn  is, 
that  nobody  can  tell,  except  that  we  tell  one  another  io.  The  cafe, 
hov/ever,  hiftorically  appears  to  be  as  follows : — 

When  the  church  mythologifts  eftablifned  their  fyftem,  they 
colleded  all  the  writings  they  could  find,  and  managed  them  as  they 
pleafed.  It  is  a  matter  altogether  of  uncertainty  to  us,  v/hether 
fuch  of  the  writings  as  now  appear,  under  the  name  of  the  Old  and 
the  New  Tedament,  are  in  the  fame  Hate  in  which  thofe  colledlors 
fay  they  found  them ;  or  whether  they  added,  altered,  abridged, 
or  dreifed  them  up. 

Be  this  as  it  may,  they  decided  by  vote  which  of  the  books  out 
of  the  colle»fl;ion  they  had  made,  fhould  be  the  word  of  god,  and 
which  Ihculd  not»     They  rcjeded  feveral;  they  voted  others  to  be 


r4  PAINE's     WORKS. 

doubtful,  fuch  as  the  bcoks  called  the  Apocrypha  ;  and  thofe  books 
v/hich  had  a  majority  of  votes,  were  voted  to  be  the  word  of  God.-' 
Had  they  voted  otherwife,  all  the  people,  iince  calling  themfelves 
Chriftians,  had  believed  otherwife  ;  for  the  belief  of  the  one  comes 
from  the  vote  of  the  other.  Who  the  people  were  that  did  all  this, 
we  know  nothing  of;  they  called  themfelves  by  the  general  name  of 
the  church ;  and  this  is  all  we  know  of  the  matter. 

As  we  have  no  other  external  evidence  or  authority  for  believing 
thofe  books  to  be  the  word  of  God,  than  what  I  have  mentioned, 
which  is  no  evidence  or  authority  at  all,  I  come,  in  the  next  place, 
to  examine  the  internal  evidence  contained  in  the  books  themfelves. 

In  the  former  part  of  this  effay,  I  have  fpoken  of  revelation,  I 
now  proceed  further  with  that  fubjeft,  for  the  purpofe  of  applying 
it  to  the  books  in  queition. 

Revelation  is  a  communication  of  fomething,  which  the  perfon, 
to  whom  that  thing  is  revealed,  did  not  know  before.  For  if  I 
have  done  a  thing,  or  feen  it  done,  it  needs  no  revelation  to  tell 
me  I  have  done  it,  or  feen  it,  nor  to  enable  me  to  tell  it,  or  to 
write  it. 

Revelation,  therefore,  cannot  be  applied  to  any  thing  done  upon 
earth,  of  which  man  is  himfelf  the  aftor  or  the  v/itnefs  ;  and 
confequently  all  the  hiftorical  and  anecdotal  part  of  the  Bible, 
which  is  almoft  the  whole  of  it,  is  not  v/ithin  the  meaning  and 
compafs  of  the  word  revelation,  and  therefore  is  not  the  word  of 
God. 

When  Sampfon  ran  off  with  the  gate-pofts  of  Gaza,  if  he  ever 
did  fo  (and  whether  he  did  or  not  is  nothing  to  us)  or  when  he 
viiited  his  Delilah,  or  caught  his  foxes,  or  did  any  thing  elfe, 
%vhat  has  revelation  to  do  with  thefe  things  ?  If  they  v/ere  fafts, 
he  could  tell  them  himfelf;  or  his  fecretary,  if  he  kept  one,  could 
write  them,  if  they  were  worth  either  telling  or  writing;  and  if 
they  were  fidions,  revelation  could  not  make  them  true  ;  and 
whether  true  or  not,  we  are  neither  the  better  nor  the  v/ifer  for 
knowing  them..  When  we  contemplate  the  immenfity  of  that 
Being,  who  direfls  and  governs  the  incomprehenfible  whole,  of 
which  the  utmoft  ken  of  human  fight  can  difcover  but  a  part,  we 
ought  to  feel  fliame  at  calling  fuch  paltry  ftories  the  word  of 
God. 
V  As  to  the  account  of  the  creation,  with  which  the  book  of 
Gcnefis  opens,  it  has  all  the  appearance  of  being  a  tradition  which 
the  ifraeiites  had  among  them  before  they  came  into  Egypt ;  and 


Part  L  A  G  E     O  F    R  E  A  S  O  N.  15 

after  their  departure  from  that  country,  they  put  it  at  the  head  of 
their  hilloryj  without  telling,  as  it  is  raoft  probable  that  they  did 
not  know  how  they  came  by  it.  The  manner  in  which  the  account 
opens,,  Ihews  it  to  be  traditionary.  It  begins  abruptly.  It  is 
nobody  that  fpeaks.  It  is  nobody  that  hears.  It  is  addreffed  to 
nobody.  It  has  neither  firft,  fecond,  or  third  perfon.  It  has  every 
criterion  of  being  a  tradition.  It  has  no  voucher.  Mofes  does 
not  take  it  upon  himfelf  by  introducing  it  with  the  formality  that 
he  ufes  on  other  occafions,  fuch  as  that  of  faying,  "  The  Lord 
/pake  unto  Mofes,  fo.y'in'g." 

Why  it  has  been  called  the  Mofaic  account  of  the  creation,  I  am 
at  a  lofs  to  conceive.  Mofes,  I  believe,  was  too  good  a  judge  of 
fuch  fubjecis,  to  put  his  name  to  that  account.  He  had  been  educated 
among  the  Egyptians,  who  were  a  people  as  well  Ikilled  in  fcience, 
and  particularly  in  albonomy,  as  any  people  of  their  day ;  and  the 
iilence  and  caution  that  Mofes  obferves,  in  not  authenticating  the 
account,  is  a  good  negative  evidence  that  he  neither  told  it,  nor 
believed  it.  The  cafe  is,  that  every  nation  of  people,  has  been 
world  makers,  and  the  Ifraelites  had  as  much  right  to  fet  up  the 
trade  of  world-making  as  any  of  the  reft ;  and  as  Mofes  was  not  an  / 
Ifraelite,  he  might  not  chufe  to  contradift  the  tradition.  The 
account,  however,  is  harmlefs ;  and  this  is  more  than  can  be  faid 
for  many  other  parts  of  the  Bible. 

Whenever  we  read  the  obfcene  ftories,  the  voluptuous  debauclu 
cries,  the  cruel  and  torturous  executions,  the  unrelentin?  vindiftive- 
nefs,  with  which  more  than  half  the  Bible  is  filled,  it  would  be 
more  confiftent  that  we  called  it  the  word  of  a  demon,  than  the 
word  of  God.  It  is  a  hiftory  of  wickednefs,  that  has  ferved  to 
corrupt  and  brutalize  m^ankind  ;  and,  for  my  own  part,  I  fmcerelv 
deteft  it,  as  I  deteft  every  thing  that  is  cruel. 

We  fcarcely  meet  with  any  thing,  a  few  phrafes  excepted,  but  / 
what  deferves  either  our  abhorrence  or  our  contempt,  till  we  come  toU 
the  mifcellaneous  parts  of  the  Bible.  In  the  anonymous  publications/ 
the  Pfalms  and  the  Book  of  Job,  more  particularly  in  the  latter, 
we  find  a  great  deal  of  elevated  fentiment  reverentially  expreiTed 
of  the  power  and  benignity  of  the  Almighty  :  but  they  ftand  on 
no  higfier  rank  than  many  other  compofitions  on  fimilar  fubje<fls. 
as  well  before  that  time  as  fince. 

The  proverbs,  which  are  faid  to  be  Solomon's,  though  moft 
probably  a  colleftion  [becaufe  they  difcover  a  knowledge  of  Hfe, 
which  his  fituatiou  excluded  him  from  knowing]  are  an  inflructivc 


i6  PAINE's     WOPxKS. 

table  of  ethics.  They  are  inferior  in  keennefs  to  the  proverbs  of 
thje  Spaniards,  and  not  more  wife  and  economical  than  thofc  of  the 
American  Franklin. 

All  the  remaining  parts  of  the  Bible,  generally  known  by  the 
name  of  the  pFophets,  are  the  works  of  the  Jewiili  poets  and 
itinerant  preachers,  who  mixed  poetry,  anecdote,  and  devotion 
together  ;  and  thofe  works  ftill  retain  the  air  and  Hyie  of  poetry, 
thouo-h  in  tranilation.* 

o 

There  is  not,  thro'jgliout  the  whole  book,  called  the  Bible,  any 
word  that  defcribes  to  us  v/hat  we  call  a  poet,  nor  any  word  fhat 
defcrib-cs  what  we  call  poetry.  The  cafe  is,  that  the  word  prophet , 
to  which  later  times  have  aiRxed  a  new  idea,  was  the  Bible  word 

*  As  there  are  many  readers  'who  do  not  fee  that  a  compojltlon  is  poetry  y 
u?iufs  it  be  in  rhy?ne,   it  is  for  their  177  formation  that  I  add  this  note. 

Poetry  conffts  principally  in  t'VJO  things  ;  imagery  and  compofit^on, 
77v  co>npoftion  of  poetry  differs  fro7n  that  of  prof e  in  the  manner  of 
mixing  long  andfhori  fyllahles  together.  Take  a  long  fyllahle  out  of 
a  line  of  poetry^  and  put  a  jLort  one  in  the  room  of  ity  or  put  a  long 
fyllahb:  'where  afhort  07ie  fhould  he,  and  that  line  nvill  lofe  its  poetical 
hartnoy.  It<vjillha~u'e  an  eJffeH  zipon  the  line  like  that  of  mf placing 
a  note  in  afong, 

The  imagery  in  thofe  hooks,  called  the  Prophets,  appertains  altogether 
to  poetry.  It  is  fitiitious  and  oftetz  exira^vagant,  and  not  admif/ible  in 
any  other  kind  of  njjriting  tha7z  poetry, 

Tojhetv  that  thefe  -ivritings  are  compofed  in  poetical  numbers,   I  nvill 

take  ten  fyllahles  as   they  fan  d  in   th>e  book,   and  make   a  line  of  the 

fame  number  of  fyllahles  (heroic  meafure)  that  fh  all  rhyme  'with  the 

laft  'word.      It  I'jtll  then  be  feen,   that  the  compofition  of  thofe  hooks 

IS  poetical  meafure.      1  he  infance  I  fhall  firfi  produce  is  from  Ifaiah. 

*'  Herir,  O  ye  heavens,  and  give  car,  O  earth." 
"Tii  Gad  himfelf,   that  calls  atte>ztion  forth. 

Another  inftance  I  fhall  quote  is  from  the  mournful  Jeremiah,  t» 
tohich  I  fhall  add  t'VJO  other  lines,  for  the  purpofe  of  .carrying  out  the: 
figure,   and fke'wing  the  intention^ef  the  pOf(^,*mm«t  • 

"  O  !  that  mine  head  were  waters,  and  min^  eyes"   - 
Were  fotmtains,  foiving  like  the  liquid  fkies  ; 
Then  ^vould  I  gi've  the  mighty  food  releafe, 
A^zd  njjeep  a  deluge  for  the  hutna,n  race. 


Part  I.  A  G  K    O  F    R  K  A  S  O  N.  17 

for  "poet,  and  the  word  prophefyhtg  meant  the  art  of  making 
poetry.  It  alfo  meant  the  art  of  playing  poetry  to  a  tune,  upon  any 
inftrument  of  mufic. 

We  read  of  prophefying  with  pipes,  tabrcts,  and  horns.  Of 
prophefying  with  harps,  with  pfalteries,  with  cymbals,  and  with 
every  other  inftrument  of  mufic  then  in  fafhion.  Were  we  now  to 
fpeak  of  prophefying  with  a  fiddle,  or  with  a  pipe  and  tabor,  the 
exprefTion  would  have  no  meaning,  or  would  appear  ridiculous,  and 
to  fome  people  contemptuous,  becaufe  we  have  changed  the  meaning 
of  the  word. 

We  are  told  of  Saul  being  among  the  prophets,  and  alfo  that  he 
prophefied ;  but  we  are  not  told  what  they  prophejiedy  nor  vv'hat 
he  prophefied.  The  cafe  is,  there  was  nothing  to  tell ;  for  thefe 
prophets  were  a  company  of  muficians  and  poets ;  and  Saul  joined  m 
the  concert  ;  and  this  was  called /r(j/i^^/j'/V;^i       i-Oirn.  10.  b. 

The  account  given  of  this  affair  in  the  book  called  Samuel,  is, 
that  Saul  met  a  company  of  prophets  ;  a  whole  company  of  them ! 
coming  down  with  a  pfaltery,  a  tabret,  a  pipe,  and  a  harp,  and 
that  they  prophefied,  and  that  he  prophefied  with  them.  But  it 
appears  afterwards,  that  Saul  prophefied  badly,  that  is,  he^er- 
formed  his  part  badly,  for  it  is  faid,  that  "  an  e-u'il  fp'ir'it  from  God'"' 
came  upon  Saul  and  he  prophefied.'*        }■  StLyyy.  i^.  <}'      f^-  /^. 

Now,  were  there  no  other  pafiTage  in  the  book,  called  the  Bible, 
than  this,  to  demonftrate  to  us  that  we  have  loft  the  original 
meaning  of  the  word  prophecy y  and  fubftituted  another  meaning  \n 
^  its  place,  this  alone  would  be  fufficient ;  for  it  is  impofiible  to  ufe 
and  apply  the  v/ord  prophecy  in  the  place  it  is  here  ufed  and  applied, 
if  we  give  to  it  the  fenfe  which  later  times  have  affixed  to  it. 
The  manner  in  which  it  is  here  ufed,  ftrips  it  of  all  religious  mean- 
ing, andfhewsthataman  might  then  be  a  prophet,  ox  m\^\X prophecy ^ 
as  he  may  now  be  a  poet,  or  a  mufician,  without  any  regard  to  the 
morality  or  the  immorality  of  his  charader.  The  word  was  originally 
a  term  of  fcience,  promifcuoufly  applied  to  poetry  and  to  mufic,  and 
not  reftrided  to  any  fubjed  upon  which  poetry  and  mufic  might  be 

exercifed.     i^mfiver  Cutnir i  '     -  &    "   \t''      *^'      \    1 1    1      ''  1' 

•      <^    ^1    tttniMiii»i> — ^"■^p-'^   • ; — 

*  Js  thofe  meny  ivho  call  them/elves  d'l'vhies  a»d  ccmnmitators,  are 
'very  fond  of  puzzling  one  another,  I  lea've.  them  to  conteft  the  ?ncanino- 
of  the  firji  part  of  the  phrafe,  that  of  an  evil  fpirit  from  God,  / 
keep  to  my  text,      I  keep  to  the  meaning  of  the  'VJord prophecy^ 


i8  P  AI  N  E's     WORKS. 

Deborah  and  Earak  are  called  prophets,  notbecaufe  they  predicted 
any  thing,  butbecaufe  they  compofed  the  poem  or  fcng  that  bears 
their  name  in  celebration  of  an  ad  already  done:  David  is  ranked 
among  the  prophets,  for  he  was  a  mufician;  and  was  alfo  reputed  to 
he  (though  perhaps  very  erroneouiiy)  the  author  of  the  Pfalms.  But 
Abraham,  Ifaac,  and  Jacob,  are  not  called  prophets.  It  does  not 
^pear,  from  any  accounts  we  have,  that  they  could  either  hng, 
play  muiic,  or  make  poetry.  ^^  ^  ^^^  ,^,  (kMu^  .  %^ 

We  are  toid_of_tjie  o^reater.and  thejerferjprophets^     They  might  as  ^^/'-'^ 
tveli  teii  us  of  the  greater  and  the  lefTer  God;  for  there  cannot  h^  r^f 
degrees  in  prophefying,  confiftently  with   its  modern  fenfe.     But 
there  are  degrees  in  poetry^  and  therefore  the  phrafe  is  reconcileable 
to  the  cafe,  when  we  underftand  by  it  the  greater  and  the  leffer  poets. 

It  is  altogether  unneceffiry,  after  this,  to  offer  any  obferyations 
upon  what  thofe  men,  ilyied  prophets,  have  written.  The  axe  goes 
at  once  to  the  root,  by  ihewing  that  the  original  meaning  of  the 
word  has  been  miftaken,  and  confequently  all  the  inferences  that 
have  been  drawn  from  thofe  books,  the  devotional  refpeft  that  has 
hten  paid  to  them,  and  the  laboured  commentaries'  that  have  been 
written  upon  them.,  under  that  miftaken  meaning,  are  not  worth 
difputing  about.  In  many  things,  however,  the  writings  of  the 
Jewilh.  poets,  deferves  a  better  fate  than  that,  of  being  bound  up,  as 
they  now  are,  with,  the  trafn  that  accompanies  them,  under  the 
abufed  name  of  the  word  of  God, 

If  we  permit  ourfelves  to  conceive  right  ideas  of  things,  we  muft 
neceifariiy  afiix  the  idea,  not  only  of  unchangeablenefs,  but  of  the 
utter  impofnbility  of  any  change  taking  place,  by  any  means  or 
accident  whatever,  in  that  which  we  would  honour  with  the  name  of 
the  word  of  God :  and  therefore  the  word  of  God.cannot  exift  in  any. 
written  or  human  lan-juao-e. 

The  continually  progreffive  change  to  which  the  meaning  of  words 
is  fubjeft,  the  want  of  an  univerfal  language  v/hich  renders  tranflations 
neceifary,  the  errors   to  v/hich  tranilations  are  again  fubjed,  the 
>,ttt  niiftakes  of  copy  ills  and  printers,  together  with  the  poffibility  of 
^^f  wilful  alteration,  are  of  themfelves  evidences,  that  human  language, 
/^<-"?  whether  in  fpeech  or  in  print, ,  cannot  be  the  vehicle'  o£  the  jtvord  of 
'^^^  God.  fThe_w_ord  of  God  exifts  in  fomething  elfe.'-  '^^  ^^^^-  Icvi^ 
.(Ti^cJL     Did  the  book,  called  the   Bible,  excel  in  purity  of  ideas  and   '  /  ^ 
■^^^fxpreffion,  all  the  books  that  are  now  extant  in  the  world,  I  would   ) 
not  take  it  for  my  rule  of  f?ith,  as  being  the  word  of  God;  becaufe  '/ 
the  poiiibiiity  would  neverthelefs  exift  of  my  -being  irapofed  upon,     - 


Part  I.  AGE    OF    REASON.  19 

.^^.jJiL  But  when  I  fee,  throughout  the  greatcft  part  of  this  book,  fcirceU^ 
/>  ^c/tie^-  any  thing  but  a  hiftory  of  the  grotTcft  vices,  and  a  coiledioh  of  the 
^^''  '■'^  .  moft  paltry  and  contemptible  tales,  I  cannot  diihonour  my  Creator  by 
'-j!-—^  'ji^alling  it  by  his  name. 

^/ •  Thus  much  for  the  Biblj£U^I  now  go  on  to  the  book  called  the  Nt%v 

Teftament.     The  »en.v  Tellament!    thii  is,    the   ne--w  Will,   at.  it 
there  could  be  two  wills  of  the  Creator. 
!       Had  it  been  the  objeft  or  the  intention  of  Jefljs  Chriil  to  eilablirn  j^' 
[  a  hew  religion,  he  would  undoubtedly  have  written  thefyftem  himfelf, 

Kix  procured  it  to  he  n.vritten  in  his  life  timd.   But  th^re  is  no  publicatioifr^f 
'    extant  authenticated  with  his  name.     All  the  books  called  the  New 
Teflament  were  written  after  his  death.     He  was  a  Jew  by  birth  and 
by  profeiTion ;  and  he  was  the  Son  of  God  in  like  manner  that  every 
other  perfon  is ;  for  the  Creator  is  the  Father  of  AH. 

The  firft  four  books,  called  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke,  and  John,  do 
not  give  a  hiftory   of  the  life  of  Jefus  Chrift,-  but  only   detached 
anecdotes  of  him.     It  appears  from  thefe  books,  that  the  whole  -^ 
time  of  his  bein?  a  preacher  was  not  more  than  eighteen  months  :  .  ^ 
and  it  was  only  during  this  Ihort  time,  that  thefe  men  became  >" 
aciquainted  with  him."     They  make  mention  of  him,   at  the  age   of 
twelve  years,  fitting,  they  fay,  among  the  Jewifh  doftors,  afking 
and  anfwering  them  queftion^.     As  this  was  feveral  years  before  their 
acquaintance   with  him  began,   it  is  moft  probable  they  had  this 
anecdote  from  his  parents.     From  this  time  there  is  no  account  of 
him  for  about  fixteen  years.     Where  he  lived,  or  hov/  he  employed 
himfelf  during  this  ihterval,  is  not  known.     Moft  probably  he  was 
working  at  his  father's  trade,  v/hich  was  that  of  a  carpenter.      It 
does  not  appear  that  he  had  any  fchool  education,    and  the  proba- 
bility is,   that  he  could  not  write,  for  his  parents  v/ere  extremely- 
poor,  as  appears  from  their  not  being  able  to  pay  for  a  bed  when 
he  was  bom.  1  .     ^^"  A<:L_<<i:^  >i 

It  is  fomewhat  curious  that  the  three  perfons  v/hofe  names  are  the 
M  moft  univerially  recorded,  were  of  very  obfcure  parentage.  Mofes  j/ • 
was  a  foundling,  Jefus  Chrift  was  born  in  a  ftable,  and  Mahomet  was  "^^^ 
a  mule  driver.  The  firft  and  the  laft  of  thefe  men,  were  founders  ofL, 
different  fyftems  of  religion ;  but  Jefus  Chrift  founded  no^newjjrftem.  "^^ 
He  called  men  to  the  pradice  of  moral  virtues,  and  the  belief  o^"^,^ 
one  God.     The  great  trait  in  his  characHier  is  philanthropy.  <^^u 

The  manner  in  which  he  was  appreh^ded,  fhews  that  he  was  not 
much  known  at  that  time ;  and  it  Ihews  alfo  that  the  meetings  he 
then  held  with  his  fallowers,  were  infecret;  and  that  he  had  eiven 


zo  P  A  I  NE's     WORKS,  ; 

iJ  over,  or  fufpended,  preaching  publicly.  Judas  could  no  otherwifc 
iri  o^  betray  him  than  by  giving  information  where  he  Was,  and  pointing 
7*^j  him  out  to  the  olncers  that  went  to  arreft  him  ;  and  the  reafon  for 
r-^  employing  and  paying  Judas  to  do  this,  could  arife  only  from 
:h<^tht  caufes  already  mentioned,  that  of  his  not  being  much  known, 
and  living  concealed. 

The  idea  of  his  concealment,  not  only  agrees  very  ill  with  his 

^    reputed  divinity,  but  alTociates  with  it  fomething  of  pufdlanimity  ; 

,,^  and  his  being  betrayed,  or  in  other  words,  his  being  apprehended, 

on  the  information  of  one  of  his  followers,  fliews  that  he  did  not 

intend  to  be  apprehended,  and  confequently   that  he  did  not  intend 

to  be  crucified. 

The  Chriftian  mythologifts  tell  us,  that  Chriil  died  for  the  fm3 
of  the  world,  and  that  he  came  on  furpofe  to  die.  Would  it  no^ 
then  have  been  the  fame  if  he  had  died  of  a  fever,  or  of  the  fmall 
po^,  of  old  age,  or  of  any  thing  elfe  ? 

The  declaratory  fentence  which,  they  fay,  was  pafled  upon 
Adam  in  cafe  he  ate  of  the  apple,  was  not,  that  thou  /halt  furelj 
be  cruc'ijiedy  but  thou  foalt  furely  die.  The  fentence  was  death, 
and  not  the  man'rier  of  dying.  Crucifixion,  therefore,  or  any 
other  particular  manner  of  dying,  made  no  part  of  the  fentence 
tiiat  Adam  was  to  fufFer,  and  confequently,  even  upon  their  own 
tadic,  it  could  make  no  part  of  the  fentence  that  Chriil  wa:s  to 
fufFer  in  the  room  of  Adam.  A  fever  would  have  done  as  well  as 
a  crofs,  if  there  was  any  cccaiion  for  either.    Q-A'-^  '-'■ 

This  fentence  of  death,  which,  they  tell  us,  was  thus  palled 
upon  Adam,  muft  either  have  meant  dying  naturally,  that  is, 
ceafmg  to  live,  or,  have  meant  .what  thefe  raythologifts  call 
damnation  :  and  confequently,  the  aft  of  dying  on  the  part  of 
Jefus  Chrift,  muft,  according  to  their  fyftem,  apply  as  a  prevention 
to  one  or  other  of  thofe  two  things  happening  to  Adam  and  to  us. 

That  it  does  not  prevent  our  dying  is  evident,  becaufe  we  all  die; 
and  if  their  accounts  of  longevity  be  true,  men  die  fafter  lince  the  a 
crucifixion  than  before  :  and  with  refpeft;  to  the  fecond  explanation, 
(including  with  it  the  natural  death  of  Jefus  Chrift  as  a  fubftitute 
for  the  eternal  death  or  damnation  of  all  mankind)  it  i«  impertinently 
reprefenting  the  Creator  as  comiag'  off,  or  revoking  the  fentence, 
by  a  pun  or  a  quibble  upon  the  word  death.  That  manufafturer  of 
quibbles,  St.  Paul,  if  he  wrote  the  books  that  bear  his  name, 
^'■'^has  helped  this  quibble  on,  by  making  another  quibble  upon  the 
word  Adcwu     He  makes  there  to  be  two  Adams  j.  the  one  who  fin^ 


Part  I.  A  G  E     O  F     R  E  A  S  O  N.  21 

in  fa(5l,  and  fuiFers  by  proxy  ;  the  other  who  fins  by  proxy,  and 
fuiFers  in  fad.  A  religion  thus  interlarded  with  quibble,  fubter- 
fuge  and  pun,  has  ^  tendency  to  inilrud  its  profeiTors  in  the  practice  of 
thefe  arts.  They  acquire  the  habit  without  being  aware  of  the  caufe. 

If  Jefus  Chrift  was  the  being  which  thofe  mythologifts  tell  us 
he  was,  and  that  he  came  into  the  world  to  fifffevy  which  is  a  word 
they  fometimes  ufe  inftead  of  to  d'ley  the  only  real  fuftering  he 
could  have  endured  would  haA-e  been  to  I'l^oe.  His  exiftence  here 
was  a  flatc  of  exilement  or  tranfportation  from  heaven,  and  the 
way  back  to  his  original  country  wns  to  die.---In  fine,  every 
thing  in  this  ft  range  fyftem  is  the  reverfe  of  what  it  pretends  to 
be.  It  is  the  reverfe  of  truth,  and  I  become  fo  tired  with  examining 
into  its  inconfiftencies  and  abfurdities,  that  I  hallcn  to  the  conclufion 
of  it  in  order  to  proceed  to  fometliing  better. 

How  much,  or  what  parts  of  the  books  called  the  New  Teftamcnt, 
were  Written  by  the  perfons  whofe  names  they  bear,  is  what  wc 
can  know  nothing  of,  neither  are  v/e  certain  in  what  language  they 
were  originally  written.  The  matters  they  now  contain  may  be 
clafied  under  two  heads :   anecdote  and  epiftolary  correfuondence. 

The  four  books  already  micntioned,  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke- 
and  John,  are  altogether  anecdotal.  They  relate  events  after  they 
had  taken  place.  They  tell  Avhat  Jefus  Chriii:  did  and  faid,  and 
what  others  did  and  faid  to  him  ;  and  in  feverai  inftances  they 
relate  the  fame  event  difi-crently.  Revelation  is  necellarily  out  of 
the  queftion  with  refpeft  to  thofe  books  ;  not  only  becaufe  of  the 
difagreeraent  of  the  writers,  but  becaufe  revelation  cannot  be  applied 
to  the  relating  of  facl:s  by  the  perfons  who  faw  them  done,  nor  to 
the  relating  or  recording  of  any  difcourfe  or  converfation  by  thofe 
who  heard  it.  i  The  books  called  the  Ads  of  the  Apoilles,  an 
anonymous  v/ork,  belong  alfo   to  the  anecdotal  part. 

All  the  other  parts  of  the  New  Teftament,  except  the  book  of 
enigmas,  called  the  Revelations,  are  a  collection  of  letters  under 
the  name  of  Epiftles ;  and  the  forgery  of  letters  has  been  fuch-a 
common  pradice  in  the  world,  that  the  probability  is,  at  Icaft, 
I  equal,  whether  they  are  genuine  or  forged.  One  thing,  however,  is 
much  lefs  equivocal,  which  is,  that  out  of  the  matters  contained  in 
thofe  books,  together  with  thp  afliftance  of  fome  old  ftories,  the 
church  has  fet  up  a  fyftem  of  religion  very  contradidcry  to  the 
charader  of  the  perfon  whofe  name  it  bears.  It  has  fet  up  a 
religion  of  pom pjmd_ofj;e venue,  in  pretended  imitation  of  a  perfon 
whofe  life  was  humility  and  poverty.  "^  "^^"^  "^^^"^^  U.i^^^r^^^  -ftz. 


22  p Ai  NE's   Work s. 

The  invention  of  a  purgatory,  and  of  the  releafmg  of  fouis 
therefrom,  by  prayers,  bought  of  the  church  with  moneys  the 
felling  of  pardons,  difpcnfations,  and  indulgences,  are  revenue 
laws,  without  bearing  that  name  or  carrying  that  appearance. 
Eut  the  cafe  neverthelefs  is,  that  thofe  things  4^1  ive  their  origin 
from  the  '-proxyfm  of  the  crucifixion,  and  the  theory  deduced 
therefrom,  which  was,  that  one  perfon  could  iland  in  the  place  of 
another,  and  could  perform  meritorious  fervices  for  him.  The 
probability  therefore  is,  that  the  whole  theory  or  dodlrine  of  v/hat 
is  called  the  redemption  (which  is  faid  to  have  been  accomplifhed 
hy  tSiQ  aft  of  one  perfon  in  the  room  of  another)  was  originally 
fabricated  on  purpofe  to  bring  forward  and  build  ail  thofe  fccondary 
2iid  pecuniary  redemptions  upon ;  and  that  the  paifages  in  the  books 
upon  which  the  idea  or  theory  of  redemption  is  built,,  have  been 
manufa-a^ured  and  fabricated  for  that  purpofe.  Why  are  we  to  give 
this  church  credit,  when  ihe  tells  us  that  thofe  books  are  genuine  in 
every  part,  any  more  than  v/e  give  her  credit  for  every  thing  elfe 
Iht  has  told  us  ?  or  for  the  miracles  Ihe  fays  (lie  has  performed  ?  That 
fhe  could  fabricate  writings  is  certain,  becaufe  fhe  could  write ;  and 
the compoiition  of  the  writings  in  quefiion,  is  of  that  kind  that  any 
body  might  do  it;  and  that  fhe  did  fabricate  them,  is  not  more 
inconfiilent  with  probability,  than  that  ilie  fhould  tell  us,  as  fhe  has 
done,  that  fhe  could  and  did  work  miracles. 

Since,  then,  no  external  evidence  can,  at  this  long  diilance  of 
time,,  be  produced  to  prove  v/hether  the  church  fabricated  the  doftrine 
called  redemption,  or  not  (for  fuch  evidence,  >  whether  for  or  againft, 
would  be  fabjeft  to  the  fame  fufpicion  of  being  fabricated)  the  cafe 
can  only  be  referred  to  the  internal  evidence  which  the  thing  carries 
of  itfeif ;  and  this  affords  a  very  ftrong  prefumption  of  its  being  a 
fabrication.  For  the  internal  evidence  is,  that  the  theory  or  doftrine 
of  redemption  lias  for  its  bans^  an  idea  of  pecuniary  juflice,  and  riot 
that  of  moral  juflice. 

If  I  owe  a  perfon  money  and  cannot  pay  him,  and  he  threatens  to 
put  me  in  prifon,  another  perfon  can  take  the  debt  upon  himfeif,  and 
pay  it  for  me.  But  if  I  have  committed  a  crime,  e-vjery  circumftance 
of  the  cafe  is  changed.  Moral  juflice  cannot  take  the  innocent  for  the 
gitilty,  even  if  the  innocent  would  offer  itfelf.  To  fuppofe  juflice 
to  do  this,  is  to  deflroy  the  principle  of  its  exiitcnce,  which  is  the 
thing  itfelf.  It  is  then  no  longer  juflice.  It  is  indifcriminate  revenge. 
This  fingle  reileilion  will  fhew  that  the  do-flrine  of  redemption  is 
founded  on  a  mere  pecuniary  idea  correfpoiiding  to  that  of  a  debt 


?ART  L  A  G  E    O  "F    R  E  A  S  O  N.  23 

which  another  perfon  might  pay ;  and  as  this  pecuniary  idea  corref- 
ponds  again  with  the  fyitem  of  lecond  redemptions,  obtained  through 
the  means  of  money  given  to  the  church  ibr  pardons,  the  probability 
is,  that  the  fame  peribns  fabricated  both  the  one  and  the   other 
oi^thofe    theories ;  and  that,  in  truth,  there  is  no  fuch  thing  as  J^^^^ ; 
redem.ption ;   that  it  is  fabulous ;  and  that   man  ftands  in  the  fame  ^.l 
relative  condition  with  his  Maker  he  ever  did  (land  lince  man  exifted;  '^'^ 
and  that  it  is  his  greateli  confclation  to  think  {o,  '  ^n^ju^ 

Let  him- .  believe  this,  and  he  v/ill  live  more  confiflently  rniiH-*^ 
morally  than  by  a'ny   other  fj^flem.     It  is  by  his  being  taught   to  ^"^  ^ 
contemplate  himfeif  as  an  outlaw,||as  an  out-cait,  as  a  beggar,  as  a^^^    " 
mumper,  as  one  thrown,  as  it  were,  on  a  dung-hill,  at  an  immenfe  iw  ^ 
diftance  from  his  Creator,  and  who  muft  make  his  approaches  by^ 
creeping  and    cringing  to  intern^diate  beings,  that  he  conceives -/ttz* 
either  a  contemptuous  difregard  for  every  thing  under  the  na'me  tjf 
religion,  or  becomes  indift'crent,  or   turns,  what  he   calls  devout- 
In  the  latter  caxe,  he  confumes  his  life  in  grief,  or  the  afTcdlation  of  it. 
His  prayers  are  reproaches.     His  humility  is  ingratitude.     He  calls        \ 
himfeif  a   worm,  and  the   fertile  earth    a  dung-hill ;  and  all  the 
bleffings  of  life  by  the  thanklefs  nam.e  of  vanities.     He  defpifes  the 
choicelt  gift  of  God  to  man,  the    gift   of  reason;    and  having 
endeavoured  to  force  upon   him/clf  the  belief  of  a  fyftem  againil: 
which  reafcn  revolts,  he  ungratefully   calls  it  human  reafon,   as  if 
a  man  could  give  reafon  to  himfeif. 

Yet  with  ail  this  ftrange  appearance  of  humility,  and  this  contempt 
for  human  reafon,  he  ventures  into  the  boldeil  prefumptions.     He  j^^_^^ 
finds  fault  with  every  thing.     His  felfilhnefs  is  never  fatisfied;  hist":^ 
ingratitude  is  never  at  an  end.     He  takes  on  himfeif  to  direft  the  *"  ^ 
Almighty  what  to  do,  even  in  the  government  of  the  univerfe.     He  |^  i 
jH-ays  didlatorially.     When  it  is  fun-lhine  he  prays  for  rain,  and  '-*^*^ 
when  it  is  rain  he  prays  for  fun-(hine.     He   follows  the  fame  idea 
in  every  thing  that  he  prays  for;  for  what  is  the  amount  of  all  his 
prayers,  but  an  attempt  to  m.ake  the  Almighty  change  his  mind, 
and  adl  otherwife  than  he  does.     It  is  as  if  he  were  to  fay—  thou 
knowefl  not  {o  well  as  I. 

But  fome,  perhaps,  will  fay, — Are  we  to  have  no  God — No 
revelation?  I  anfwer,  yes.  There  is  a  word  of  God;  there  is  a 
revelation. 

The  word  of  God  is  the  creation  we  behold:  And  it  is 
in  this  <wordy  which  no  human  invention  can  counterfeit  or  alter, 
that  God  fpeaketh  uiiiverfally  to  man. 


24-  PAINE's     WORKS. 

Human  language  is  local  and  changeable,  and  is  therefore  incapable 
of  being  ufed  as  the  means  of  unchangeable  and  univerfal  information* 
The  idea  that  God  fent  Jefus  Chrift  to  publifh,  as  they  fay,  the  glad 
tidings  to  all  nations,  from  one  end  of  the  earth  unto  the  other,  is 
confillent  only  with  the  ignorance  of  thofe  who  know  nothing  of  tjj.e 
extent  of  the  world,  and  who  believed,  as  thofe  worid-faviours 
believed,  and  continued  to  believe,  for  feveral  centuries  (and  that 
in  contradi6\ion  to  the  difcoveries  of  philofophers,  and  the  experi- 
ence of  navigators]  that  the  earth  was  flat  like  a  trencher  j  and  that 
a  man  might  walk  to  the  end  of  it. 

But  how  was  Jefus  Chrift  to  maj^e  any  thing  known  to  all  nations  ? 
He  could  fpeak  but  one  language,  which  v/as  Hebrew ;  and  there 
are  in  the  world  feveral  hundred  languages.  Scarcely  any  two  nations 
fpeak  the  fame  language,  or  underfland  each  other;  and  as  to 
tranilationD,  every  man  who  knows  any  thing  of  languages,  knows 
that  it  is  impolTible  to  tranflate  from  one  language  into  another,  not 
only  without  lofmg  a  great  part  of  the  original,  but  frequently  of 
miftaking  the  fenfe ;  and  befides  all  this,  the  art  of  printing  was 
wholly  unknown  at  the  time  Chrift  lived. 

It  is  always  neceffary  that  the  means  that  are  to  accompliih  any 
end,  be  equal  to  the  accomplifhment  of  that  end,  or  the  end  cannot 
be  accomplhhed.  It  is  in  this,  that  the  difference  betv/een  finite 
and  infinite  pov/er  and  wifdom  difcovers  itfelf.  Man  frequently 
fails  in  accorapliihing  his  end,  from  a  natural  inability  of  the  power 
to  the  purpofe  ;  and  frequently  from  the  want  of  wifdom  to  apply 
power  properly.  But  it  is  impoffible  for  infinite  power  and  wifdom 
to  fail  as  man  faileth.  The  means  it  ufeth  are  ahvays  equal 
to  the  end  ;  but  human  language,  more  efpecially  as  there  is  not 
an  univerfal  language,  is  incapable  of  being  ufed  as  an  univerfal 
means  of  unchangeable  and  uniform  information ;  and  therefore 
it  is  not  the  means  that  God  ufeth  in  manifeiting  himfelf  univerfally 
to  man. 

It  is  only  in  the  creation  that  all  our  ideas  and  conceptions  of 
a  ^Lvord  of  God  can  unite.  The  creation  fpeaketh  an  univerfal 
language,  independently  of  hurpan  fpecch  or  human  language, 
multiplied  and  various  as  they  be.  It  is  an  ever  exifting  original, 
which  every  man  can  read.  It  cannot  be  forged,  it  cannot  be  coun- 
terfeited ;  it  rnrmof^bQ  h^'ik  ;  it_cannot  be  altered ;  it  cannot_^^ 
^{^x^t^i'^^^^lt  does  not  depend  upon  the  will  of  man  whether 
it  ihall  be  pubiiflied  or  not ;  it  publifhes  itfelf  from  one  end  of  the 
earth  to  th^  other.     It  preaches  to  all  nations  and  to  all  worlds ; 


Part  I.  A  G  E    O  F    R  E  A  S  O  N.  4i? 

and  this  ivord  of  God  reveals    to  man  all  that  is  necefiary  for 
man  to  know  of  God.  ^ 

*Do  we  want  to  contemplate  his  power  ?  We  fee  it  in  the  immen- 
iity  of  the  creation.  Do  we  want  to  contemplate  his  wifdom  ? 
'Wje  fee  it  in  the  unchangeable  order  by  which  the  incomprehenfiblc 
whole  is  governed.  Do  we  want  to  contemplate  his  munificence  ? 
We  fee  it  in  the  abundance  with  which  he  fills  the  earth.  Do  wc 
want  to  contemplate  his  mercy  ?  We  fee  it  in  his  not  withholding 
that  abundance  even  from  the  unthankful.  In  fine,  do  we  want  to 
know  what  God  is  ?  Search  not  the  book  called  the  fcripture,  which 
any  human  hand  might  make,  bu^he  fcripture  called  the  Creation,  ^--4- 

The  only  idea  man  can  affix  to  the  name  of  God,  is,  that  of  a 
firji  caufey  the  caufe  of  all  things.  And  incomprehensibly 
difiicult  as  it  is  for  man  tq  conceive  what  a  firft  caufe  is,  he  arrive^* 
at  a  belief  of  it,  from  the  ten-fold  greater  difficulty  of  diibelieving 
it.  It  is  difficult,  beyond  defcription,  to  conceive  that  fpace  can 
have  no  end ;  but  it  is  more  difficult  to  conceive  an  end.  It  is 
difficult  beyond  defcription  to  conceive  an  eternal  duration  of  what 
we  call  time ;  but  it  is  more  impoffible  to  conceive  a  time  v/hen 
sthere  Ihaii  be  no  time.  In  like  manner  of  reafoning,  every  thing 
we  behold  carries  in  itfelf  the  internal  evidence  that  it  did  not 
make  itfelf.  Every  man  is  an  evidence  to  himfelf,  that  he  did  not 
make  himfelf;  neither  could  his  father  make  himfelf;  nor  his 
grandfather,  nor  any  of  his  race  ;  neither  could  any  tree,  plant,  o# 
animal,  make  itfelf;  and  it  is  the  conviction  arifing  from  this 
evidence,  that  carries  us  on,  as  it  were,  by  neceffity  to  the  belief 
of  a  firft  caufe  eternally  exifting,  of  a  nature  totally  different  to 
any  material  exiftence  we  know  of,  and  by  the  power  of  which  all 
things  exift  ;   and  this  firft  caufe  man  calls  God. 

It  is  only  by  the  exercife  of  reafon  that  man  can  difcover  God. 
Take  away  that  reafon,  and  he  would  be  incapable  of  underftanding- 
any  thing  ;  and,  in  this  cafe,  it  would  be  juft  as  confiftent  to  read 
even  the  book  called  the  Bible,  to  a  horfe  as  to  a  man.  How  then 
is  it  that  thofe  people  pretend  to  rejedl  reafon  ? 

Almoft  the  only  parts  in  the  book,  called  the  Bible,  that  convey 
to  us  any  idea  of  God,  are  fome  chapters  in  Job,  and  the  19th 
Pfiilm.  I  recoiled  no  other.  Thofe  parts  are  true  de'ifiical  covcin 
pofitions  ;  for  they  treat  of  the  Deity  through  his  works.  They 
take  the  book  of  Creation  as  the  word  of  God  ;  they  refer  to  no 
other  book  ;  and  all  the  inferences  they  make  are  drawn  from  that 
volume. 

*D  . 


76 


V  AIDE'S    WORKS. 


'y^. 


■i 


•^ 


X- 


I   infert.    in  this   place,    the   19th   Pfalm,    as    paraphrafed  into 
Englilh  verfe,  by  Addifon.     I  recollect  not  the  profe,  and  where 
^  Ki  I  write  this,  I  have  not  the  opportunity  of  feeing  it.  •    ^- 

The  fpacious  firmament  on  high,  4v, 

With  all  the  blue  etherial  fey. 
And  fpangled  heavens,  a  fhining  frame. 
Their  great  original  proclaim. 
The  unwearied  fun,  from  day  to  day. 
Does  his  Creator's  power  difplay. 
And  publiilics  to  every  land, 
The  work  of  an  4|niighty  hand. 
Soon  as  the  evening  (hades  prevail,  ^ 

The  moon  takes  up  the  wond'rous  tale,       ^^ 
A.nd  nightly  to  the  liftening  earth. 
Repeats  the  {lory  of  her  birth. 
Whilii  all  the  ftars  that  round  her  burn. 
And  all  the  planets  in  their  turn. 
Confirm  the  tidings  as  they  roll. 
And  fpread  tlie  truth  from  pole  to  pole.  '  <"^ 
What  though  in  folemn  filence,  all 
Move  round  this  dark  terreftrial  ball. 
What  though  no  real  voice,  nor  found, ^-^r 
Amidft  their  radiant  orbs  be  found, 
j^       »      V|  In  reafon's  ear  they  all  rejoice, 

N     ^^•    >^     v\         And  utter  forth  a  glorious  voice  ; 
\   V  ^  ^T-  X  ^    For  ever  fmging  as   they  fhine, 

V^  The  hand  that  made  us   is  divine. 

V/hat  more  does  man  want  to  know  than  that  the  hand,  or  power 
that  made  thefe  things,  is  divine,  is  omnipotent.  Let  him  believe 
this,  with  the  force  it  is  impoflible  to  repel,  if  he  permits  his  reafon 
to  aft,  and  his  rule  of  moral  life  will  follow  of  courfe. 

The  allufions  in  Job  have  all  of  them  the  fame  tendency  with 
this  Pfalm ;  that  of  deducing  or  proving  a  truth,  that  would  be 
otherwife  unknown,  from  truths  already  kiwwn. 

I  recoiled  not   enough  of  the  pafiagcs  in  Job,   to  Infert  them 
correftly ;  but  there  is  one  that  occurs  to  me  that  is  applicable  to 
^^        the  fubjea  I  am  fpeaking  upon.     "  Canft  thou  by  fearching  find  out 
^^        God  ?  Canft  thou  find  out  the  Almighty  to  perfedion  ? '  * 

-4-     I  know  not  how  the  printers  have  pointed  this  paffage,  for  I  keep       ^ 
no  Bible ;  but  it  contains  two  diftind  queftions  that  admit  ©f  diftind 


-^ 


e^t^..^^-'*~'^ 


/ 


Part  I.  AGE     OF     REASON.  27 

.  Firft,  Canft  thou  by/^^m^/V/^  find  out  God  ?  Yes.  Becaufe,  in  tKe 
firft  place,  I  know  I  did  not  make  myfelf,  and  yet  I  have  eKiften';e; 
and  by  fearchlug  into  the  nature  of  other  things,  I  find  chat  no  other 
thing  could  make  itfelf ;  and  yet  ^nillions  of  other  things  exift ; 
therefore  it  is,  that  I  know,  by  pofitive  conclufion  refalting  from' 
this  fearch,  that  there  is  a  power  fupsrioL-  to  all  thof;^  things,  and  that 
power  is  God. 

Secondly,  Canlithoa  find  oat  the  Almighty- to /^r/^.^kv.?  No.  Not 
only  becaufe  the  power  and  wifdom  he  has  manifeiled  in  the  ftru'flurs 
of  the  creation  that  I  behold,  is  to  me  incomprehenfible  ;  bat  bec'.ufe 
even  this  manifeftation,  great  as  it  is,  is -probably  but  a  fmall  dJi\\A?,f 
of  that  immenfity  of  pov/er  and  v/ifdom,  by  which  millions  of  other 
v/orlds,  to  me  invifible  by  their  diftance,  were  created  and  continue 
to  exifl.  ' 

It  is  evident  that  both  thefe  queftions  were  p'at  to  the  reafon  of  the 
perfon  to  whom  they  are" fuppofed  to  have  been  addrclTed  ;  and  it  is 
only  by  admitting  the  firft  quellion  to  be  anfwere'd  aiBrmativeiyi 
that  the  fecond  could  follow.  It  would  have  been  unnecefTary,  and 
even  ahfurd,  to  have  put  a- fecond  q.ueilion  more  diilicult  th:rn'the 
tiTll,  if  the  firft  queftion'_hadbeen'~^ahrwered  negatively.  Thj  :','„» 
queftions  have  different  objefts  ;  the  firil  refers  to  the  exilteH(:e-'4yf 
God,  the  fecond  to  his  attributes.  Reafon  Cx^n  difcover  the  bne^ 
but  it  falls  infinitely  ihort  in  difcovering  the  whole  of  the  other. 

I  recolkvl  not  a  fingle  paflTage'  in  all  the  v/ritings  afcribed  to  th^; 
men  called  Apoftles,  that  convey  any  idea  of  v/hat  God  is.     Thofe 
writings  are  chieHy  contrdverfial ;  and  the  gloominefs  of  the  fubjeft 
they  dwell  upon,  that  of  a  man  dying  in  agony  on  a  crofs,  is  b^ter 
fuited  to  the  gloomy  genius  of  a  monk  in  a  cell,  by  whom  it'is  not 
impo'iiblc  they  were  written,  than  to  any  man  breathing  the  open 
air  of  the  .creation.     The  only  pafiage  that  occurs  to  me,   that  has 
any  reference  to  the  works  of  God,  by  which  only  his  power'and 
wifdom  can  be  known,   is   related  to  have  been  fpoken  by   Jefus 
Chrift,   as  a  remedy  againft  diftruftful  care.      "  Behold  the  lilies  of 
'»'  the  field,  they  toil  not,  neither  do  they  fpin."     This,  however, 
is  far  inferior  to  the  allufions  in  Job,  and  in  the  nineteenth  pfalm ;  but 
it  is  fimilar  in  idea,  and  the  modefty  of  the  imagery  is  correfoondent 
to  the  modefty  of  the  man. 

As  to  the  Chriftian  fyftem  of  faith,  it  appears  to  me  as  a  fpecies 
of  atheifm ;  a  fort  of  religious  denial  of  God.  It  profefles  to  believe 
in  a  man  rather  than  in  God.  It  is  a  compound  made  up  chiefly  of 
raadiifra,  with  but  little  dsifm,  and  is  as  near  to  atheifm  as  t^vilieht 

D  z  * 


3»  PAINE's     WORKS. 

is  to  darknefs.  It  introduces  between  man  and  his  Maker  an  opaque 
body  which  it  calls  a  Redeemer;  as  the  moon  introduces  her  opaque 
felf  between  the  earth  and  the  fun,  and  it  produces  by  this  means  a 
religious,  or  an  irreligious  eclipfe  of  light.  It  has  put  the  whole 
oibit  of  reafon  into  fiiade,  . 

The  efFe6l  of  this  obfcurity  has  been  that  of  turning  every  thing 
upfide  down,  and  reprefenting  it  in  reverfe ;  and  among  the  revolu- 
tions it  has  thus  magically  produced,  it  has  made  a  revolution  ia 
Theology. 

That  which  is  now  called  natural  philofophy,  embracing  the  whole 
circle  of  fcience,  of  which  aftrcnomy  occupies  the  chief  place,  is 
the  iludy  of  the  works  of  God  and  of  the  power  and  wifdom  of 
God  in  his  works,  and  is  the  trne  theology. 

As  to  the  theology  that  is  now  ftudied  in  its  place,   it  is  the  ftudy 

of  human  opinions,  and  of  human  fancies  concerning  God.     It  is 

.  ;iot  the  ftudy  of  God  himfelf  in  the  works  that  he  has  made,  but  in 

the  v/orks  or  writings  that  man  has  made ;  and  it  is  not  amono-  the 

leaft  of  the  mifchiefs  that  the  Chriilian  fyftem  has  done  to  the  world, 

i^>    that  it  has  abandoned  the  original  and  beautiful  fyftem  of  theology, 

i"ik^  l""*  «*  like  a  beautiful  innocent  to  diltrefs  and  reproach,  to  make  room  for 

the  h^g  of  fuperftition, 

The  book  of  Job,  and  the  1 9th  Pfalm,  v/hich  even  the  churr h 
admits  to  be  more  ancient  than  the  chronological  order  in  which  they 
ftand  in  the  book  called  the  Bible,  are  theological  orations  conform- 
able to  the  original  fyftem  of  theology.  The  internal  evidence  of 
thofe  orations  proves  to  a  demonftration,  that  the  ftudy  and  contem- 
plation of  the  works  of  creation,  and  of  the  power  and  wifdom  of 
God  revealed  and  manifefted  in  thofe  works,  made  a  great  part  of 
the  religious  devotion  of  the  times  in  which  they  were  written; 
and  it  was  this  devotional  ftudy  and  contemplation  that  led  to  the 
•  difcovery  of  the  principles  upon  which,  what  are  now  called 
fciences,  are  eftabliihed;  and  it  is  to  the  difcovery  of  thefe  principles 
that  aimoft  all  the  arts  that  contribute  to  the  convenience  of  human 
life,  owe  their  exiftence.  Every  principal  art  has  fome  fcience  for 
its  parent,  though  the  perfon  who  mechanically  performs  the  work, 
does  not  alv/ays,  and  but  very  feldom,  perceive  the  connexion. 

It  is  a  fraud  of  the  Chriftian  fyftem  to  call  the  fciences  humaK 
in'venhons ;  it  is  only  the  application  of  them  that  is  human. 
Every  fcience  has  for  its  bafis  a  fyftem  of  principles  as  fixed  and 
unalterable  as  thofe  by  which  the  univerfe  is  regulated  and 
governedo  Man  cannot  make  principles ;  he  canofily  difcover  th^m  ^ 


Part  I.  AGE    OF    REASON.  ?$ 

For  example.  Every  perfon  who  looks  at  an  almanack  fees  an 
account  when  an  eclipfe  will  take  place,  and  he  fees  alfo  that  it 
never  fails  to  take  place  according  to  the  account  there  given.  This 
fhovvs  that  man  is  acquainted  with  the  laws  by  which  the  heavenly 
bodies  move.  But  'it  would  be  fomething  worfe  than  ignorance, 
were  any  church  on  earth  to  fay,  that  thofe  laws  are  an  human 
invention. 

It  would  alfo  be  ignorance,  or  fomething  worfe,  to  fay,  that 
the  fcientific  principles,  by  the  aid  of  which  man  is  enabled  tQ 
calculate  and  foreknow  when  an  eclipfe  will  take  place,  are  an 
human  invention.  Man  cannot  invent  any  thing  that  is  eternal  or 
immutable  ;  and  the  fcientific  principles  he  employs  for  this  purpofe, 
mull,  and  are,  of  neceffity,  as  eternal  and  immutable  as  the  laws 
by  which  the  heavenly  bodies  move,  or  they  could  not  be  ufed  as 
they  are,  to  afcertain  the  time  when,  and  the  manner  how,  an 
eclipfe  will  take  place. 

-The  fcientific  principles  that  man  employs  to  obtain  the  fore- 
knowledge of  an  eclipfe,  or  of  any  thing  elfe  relating  to  the 
motion  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  are  contained  chiefly  in  that  part 
of  fcience  that  is  called  trigonometry,  or  the  properties  of  a 
triangle,  which,  when  applied  to  the  lludy  of  the  heavenly  bcdies, 
is  called  aftronomy  :  when  applied  to  direCl  the  courfe  of  a  fnip  on 
the  ocean,  it  is  called  navigation ;  when  applied  to  the  conil ruction 
of  figures  drawn  by  a  rule  and  compafs,  it  is  called  geometry  ; 
when  applied  to  the  conftrudlion  of  plans  of  edifices,  it  is  called 
archite(5lure ;  when  applied  to  the  meafurement  of  any  portion  of 
the  furface  of  the  earth,  it  is  called  land  furveying.  In  fine,  it  is 
the  foul  of  fcience.  It  is  an  eternal  truth :  It  contains  the 
mathematical  demonjiration  of  which  man  fpeaks,  and  the  extent  of 
its  ufes  are  unknown. 

It  may  be  faid,  that  man  can  make  or  draw  a  triangle,  and 
therefore  a  triangle  is  an  human  invention. 

But  the  triangle,  when  drawn,  is  no  other  than  the  image  of 
the  principle  :  it  is  a  delineation  to  the  eye,  and  from  thence  to 
the  mind,  of  a  principle  that  would  otherwife  be  imperceptible. 
The  triangle  does  not  make  the  principle,  any  more  than  a  candle 
taken  into  a  room  that  was  dark,  makes  the  chairs  and  tables,  that 
before  were  invifible.  All  the  properties  of  a  triangle  exill 
independently  of  the  figure,  and  exiiled  before  any  triangle  v/as 
drawn  or  thought  of  by  man.  Man  had  no  more  to  do  in  the 
formation  of  thofe  properties,  pr  principles,   than  he  had  to  do  in 


30  PAINE's     WORKS. 

making   the    laws     by   which  the   heavenly  bodies   move :    and 
therefore  the  one  muft  have  the  fame  divine  origin  as  the  other. 

In  the  fame  manner,  as  it  may  be  faid,  that  man  can  make  a 
triangle,  fo  alfo  may  it  be  faid,  he  can  m-.ke  the  mechanical 
inftrument,  called  a  lever.  But  the  principle  by  which  the  lever 
afts,  is  a  thing  diftin<5l  from  the  inftrument,  and  would  exift  if  the 
inftrum-ent  did  not :  it  attaches  itfelf  to  the  inftrumeirt'  after  it  is 
made  ;  the  inftrument  therefore  can  a6l  no  otherwife  than  it  does 
aft ;  neither  can  all  the  effort  of  human  invention  make  it  aft 
otherwife.  That  which,  in  all  fuch  cafes,  man  calls  the  effeSi, 
is  no  other  than  the  principle  itfelf  rendered  perceptible  to  the. 
fenfes. 

Since  then  man  cannot  make  principles,  from  whence  did  he  gam 
a  knowledge  of  them  fo  as  to  be  able  to  apply  them,  not  only  to 
things  on  earth,  but  to  afcertain  the  motion  of  bodies  fo  iramenfely 
diilant  from  him  as  all  the  heavenly  bodies  are  ?  From  whence,  I 
a  Ik,  could  he  gain  that  knowledge,  but  from  the  ftudy  of  the  true 
theology  ? 

It  is  the  ftruc^ure  of  the  univerfe  that  has  taught  this  knowledge 
toman.  That  ftrufture  is  an  ever  exiftin^^  exhibition  of  every 
principle  upon  which  every  part  of  mathematical  fcience  is  founded. 
The  offspring  of  this  fcience  is  mechanics ;  for  mechanics  is-  no 
other  than  the  principles  of  fcience  applied  pra^icall}'.  The  man 
who  proportions  the  feveral  parts  of  a  mill,  ufes  the  fame  fcientific 
principles,  as  '\i  he  had  the  power  of  conftrufting  an  univerfe  : 
but  as  he  cannot  give  to  matter  that  invifible  agency,  hy  which  all 
the  component  paj-ts  of  the  immenfe  machine  of  the  univerfe  have 
influence  upon  each  other,  and  aft  in  motional  unifon  together 
without  any  apparent  contaft,  and  to  which  man  has  given  the 
name  oi  attraftion,  gravitation,  and  repulfion,  he  fupplies  the 
place  of  that  agency  by  the  humble  imitation  of  teeth  and  cogs. 
All  the  parts  of  man's  microcofm  muft  vifibiy  touch.  But  could 
he  gain  a  knowledge  of  that  agency,  fo  as  to  be  able  to  apply  it  in 
praftice,  we  might  then  fay,  that  another,  caiiomcal  book  of  the 
word  of  God  had  been  difcovcred. 

If  man  could  alter  the  properties  of  the  lever,  fo  alfo  could  he 
alter  the  properties  of  the  triangle  :  for  a  lever  (taking  that  fort  of 
lever,  which  is  called  a  fteel-yard  for  the  fake  of  explanation) 
forms,  when  in  motion,  a  triangle.  The  line  it  defccnds  from, 
(one  point  of  that  line  being  in  the  fulcrum)  the  line  it  defcends  to, 
and  the  chord  of  the  arc,  which  the  end  of  the  lever  defcribes  i:\ 


Part  L  A  G  E    O  F    R  E  A  S  O  N.  31 

the  air,  are  the  three  fides  of  a  triangle.  The  other  arm  of  the 
lever  defcribes  alfo  a  triangle  ;  and  the  correfponding  fides  of  thofe 
two  triangles,  calculated  fcientifically  or  meafured  geometrically  ; 
and  alfo  the  fines,  tangents,  and  fecants  generated  from  the  angles, 
and  geometrically  meafured,  have  the  fame  proportions  to  each 
other,  as  the  different  weights  have  that  will  balance  each  other  on 
the  lever,  l<?aving  the  weight  of  the  lever  out  ot  the  cafe. 

It  may  alfo  be  faid  that  man  can  make  a  wheel  and  axis,  that  he 
can  put  wheels  of  different  magnitudes  together,  and  produce  a 
mill.  Still  the  cafe  comes  back  to  the  fame  point,  v/hich  is,  that 
he  did  not  make  the  principle  that  gives  the  wheels  thofe  powers. 
That  principle  is  as  unalterable  as  in  the  former  cafes,  or  rather  it  is 
the  fame  principle  under  a  different  appearance  to  the  eye. 

-The  power  that  two  wheels,  of  different  magnitudes,  have  upon 
each  other,  is  in  the  fame  proportion  as  if  the  femi-diameter  of  the 
two  v/heels  were  joined  together  and  made  into  that  kind  of  l-ever 
I  have  defcribed,  fufpendcd  at  the  part  where  the  femi-diameters 
join;  for  the  two  wheels,  fcientifically  confidered,  are  no  other 
than  the  two  circles  generated  by  the  motion  of  the  compound  lever. 

It  is  from  the  fludy  of  the  true  theology  that  all  our  knowledge 
of  fcicnce  is  derived,  and  it  is  from  that  knowledge  that  all  the 
arts  have  originated. 

The  Almighty  ledurer,  by  dif^^laying  the  principles  of  fcience  in 
the  itrudure  of  the  univerfe,  has  invited  man  to  ftudy  and  to 
imitation.  It  is  as  if  he  had  faid  to  the  inhabitants  of  this  globe 
that  we  call  ours,  "  I  have  made  an  earth  for  man  to  dwell  upon, 
"  and  I  have  rendered  the  ftarry  heavens  vifible,  to  teach  him 
"  fcience  and  the  arts.     He  can  now  provide  for  his  own  comfort, 

*'  AND  LEARN  FROM  MY  MUNIFICENCE  TO  ALL  TO  BE  KINO 
**    TO    EACH    OTHER*" 

Of  what  ufe  is  It,  unlefs  it  be  to  teach  man  fomething,  that  his 
eye  is  endowed  with  the  power  of  beholding,  to  an  incomprehcnfible 
diftance,  an  immenfity  of  worlds  revolving  in  the  ocean  of  fpacc  ; 
or  of  what  ufe  is  it,  that  this  immenfity  of  worlds  is  vifible  to  man  .> 
What  has  man  to  do  with  the  Pleiades,  with  Orion,  with  Sirius, 
with  the  i^ar  he  calls  the  north  ftar,  with  the  moving  orbs  he  has 
named  Saturn,  Jupiter,  Mars,  Venus,  and  Mercury,  if  no  ufes  are 
to  follow  from  their  being  vifible  ?  A  lefs  power  of  vifion  would 
have  been  futficient  for  man,  if  the  immenfity  he  now  polfeffes  were 
given  only  to  wade  itfelf,  as  it  were,  on  an  immenfe  defert  of 
fpace  glittering  with  fho\y». 


3^  PAlNE's     WORKS. 

It  is  only  by  contemplating  what  he  calls  the  ftarry  heavens,  ^ 
the  book  and  fchool  of  fcience,  that  he  difcovers  any  ufe  in  their 
being  A^fible  to  him,  or  any  advantage  refulting  from  his  immenfity 
of  vilion.  But  when  he  contemplate-  the  fubjeft  in  this  light,  ht 
fees  an  additional  m.otive  for  faying  that  vothing  ^Mas  made  in 
'va'in;  for  in  vain  would  be  this  power  of  vifion  if  it  taught  man 
nothing. 

As  the  Chriftian  fyftem  of  faith  has  made  a  revolution  in 
theology,  fo  alfo  has  it  made  a  revolution  in  the  ftate  of  learning. 
That  which  is  now  called  learning,  was  not  learning  originally. 
Learning  does  not  confift,  as  the  fchools  now  make  it  to  confift,  in 
the  knowledge  of  languages,  but  in  the  knowledge  of  things  to 
whjcrh  language  gives  names. 

The  Greeks  were  a  learned  people  ;  but  learning  with  them,  did 
not  conuil  in  fpeaking  Greek,  any  more  than  in  a  Roman's  fpeaking 
Latin,  or  a  Frenchman's  fpeaking  French,  or  an  Englilhman's 
fpeaking  Englifh.  From  what  we  know  of  the  Greeks,  it  does  not 
appear  that  they  knew  or  ftudied  any  language  but  their  own ;  and 
this  was  one  caufe  of  their  becoming  fo  learned;  it  afforded  them 
mere  time  to  apply  themfelvcs  to  better  ftudics.  The  fchools  of  the 
Greeks  were  fchools  of  fcience  and  philofophy,  and  not  of  languages : 
and  it  is  in  the  knowledge  of  the  things  that  fcience  and  philofophy 
teach,   that  learning  confift^.  ^ 

Alnloft  all  the  fcientific  learning-  that  now  exifts,  came  to  us  from 
the  Greeks,  cr  the  people  who  fpoke  the  Greek  language.  It  there- 
fore became  neceffary  to  the  people  of  other  nations,  who  fpoke  a 
different  language,  that  fome  among  them  (hould  learn  the  Greek 
language,  in  order  that  the  learning  ^the  Greeks  had,  might  be 
made  known  in  thofe  nations,  by  tranflating  the  Greek  books  of 
fcience  and  philofophy  into  the  mother  tongue  of  each  nation. 

The  ftudy,  therefore,  of  the  Greek  language,  (and  in  the  fame 
inannerfor  the  Latin)  was  no  other  than  the  drudgery  bufmefs  of  a 
lino-uifl ;  and  the  lancruaire  thus  obtained,  was  no  other  than  the 
means,  or,  as  it  were,  the  tools,  employed  to  obtain  the  learning  the 
Greeks  had.  It  made  no  part  of  the  learning  itfelf ;  and  was  fo 
diftinift  from  it,  as  to  make  it  exceeding  probable,  that  the  perfons 
who  had  ftudied  Greek  fufficiently,  to  tranflate  thofe  works,  fuch, 
for  inftance,  as  Euclid's  Elements,  did  not  underftand  any  of  the 
learning  the  works  contained. 

As  there  is  now  nothing  nev/  to  be  learned  from  the  dead  languages, 
all  the  ufeful  books  being  already  tranflat^,  the  languages  arebecome 


Part  I.  AGEOFREASON.  33 

ufeiefs,  and  the  time  expended  in  t-eaching  and  in  learning  them  is 
wafled.     So  far  as  the  ftudy  of  languages  may  contribute   to  the 
progrefs  and  communication  of  knowledge  [for  it  has  nothing  to  do 
with  the  creation  of  knowledge]  it  is  only  in  the  living  language* 
that  new  knowledge  is  to  be  found ;  and  certain  it  is,  that  in  general, 
a  youth  will  learn  more  of  a  living  language  in  one  year,  than  of  a 
dead  language  in  feven-;  and  it  is  but  feldom  that  the  teacher  knows 
much  of  it  himfelf.     The  difficulty  of  learning  the  dead  languages 
does  not  arife  from  any  fuperior  abftrufenefs  in  the  languages  them- 
felves,  but  in   their  being  deady  and  the  pronunciation  entirely  loft. 
It  would  be  the  fame    with  any  other  language  when  it  becomes  #jv 
dead.  /The  beft  Greek  linguift  that  now  exiib,  does  norunderftand,^,<o  «^ 
Greek  fo  well  as  a  Grecian  ploughman  did,  or  a  Grecian  milk-Hnaid ;  %^Ji^e. 
and  the  fame  for  the  Latin,  compared  with* a  ploughman  or  a  milk-'^'^'*^ 
maid  of   the   Romans;  and  with    refpeft  to  pronunciation,    and^^^^^ 
idiom,  not  fo  well  as  the  cows  that  Ihe  milked.     It  would  therefore  w^i^ 
be  advantageous  to  the  ftate  of  learning/  to  abolifh  the  ftudy  of  the  nu^>j-<- 
dead  languages,  and  to  make  learning  confift,   as  it  originally  did,  ^y-^^" 
in  fcientiiic  knowledgre*//    5U-<»^"v  n^v**-?,**    'fV-^-'v.,  1r 

The  apology  that  is  fometimes  made  for  continuing  to  teach  the  p^^t  M 
dead  languages  is,  that  they  are  taught  at  a  time  v/hen  a  child  i.st«|f*<^ 
not  capable  of  exerting  any  other   mental   faculty  than    that  of  '^'*'" 
memory.     But  this  is  altogether  erroneous.     The  human  mind  has""^,  ^Jitk 
a  natural  difpolition  to  fcientific  knowledge,   and  to  the  things  con-  ^^^^ 
neded  with  it.     The  firft   and   favourite  amufement  of  a   child, 
even  before  he  begins  to  play,   is  that  of  imitating  the  works  of 
man.     It  builds  houfes  with  cards  or  fticks ;  it  navigates  the  little 
ocean  of  a  bowl  of  water  with  a  paper  boat :  or  dams  the  ftream 
of  a  gutter,  and  contrives  fomething  which  it  calls  a  mill ;  and  it 
interefts  itfelf  in  the  fate  of  its  works  with  a  care  that  refembles 
affeftion.     It  afterwards  goes  to  fchool,  where  its  genius  is  killed 
by  the  barren  ftudy  of  a  dead  language,  and  the  philofopher  is  loft 
in  the  linguift.     l-     t'k  s  ,  -   ;.     „. ...  ■- .'v      />  ,     - 

But  the  apology  that  is  now  made  for  continuing  to  teach  the 
dead  languages,  could  not  be  the  caufe  at  firft  of  cutting  down 
learning  to  the  narrow  and  humble  fphere  of  linguiftry. ;  the  caufe> 
therefore  muft  be  fought  for  elfewhere.  In  all  rcfearches  of  this 
kind,  the  beft  evidence  that  can  be  produced,  is  the  internal  evi- 
dence the  thing  carries  with  itfelf,  and  the  evidence  of  circumftances 
that  unites  with  it,  both  of  which,  in  this  cafe,  are  not  difficult 
to  be  difcovered. 


34  PAINE's     WORKS. 

Putting    then    afide,    as    matter    of  diflin<5t   confideration,    the 

outrage  offered  to  the  moral  juftice  of  God,  by  fuppofmg  him  to 

make  the  innocent  fufFer  for  the  guilty,   and  alfo  the  loofe  morality 

and  low  contrivance  of  fuppofmg  him  to  change  himfelf  into  the 

fhape  of  a   man,   in  order  to   make  an  excufe  to   himfelf  for  not 

)  executing  his  fnppofed  fentence  upon  Adam  ;  putting,   I  fay,  thofe 

I  things  afide,  as  matter  of  diftindl  confideration,  it  is  certain,  that 

( what  is  called  the  Chriftisn  fyftem  of  faith,  including  in  it  the 

whimiical  account  of  the  creation  ;  the  flrange   (lory  of  Eve,  the 

fnake,  and   the  apple ;   the    amphibious  idea  of  a  man-god ;  the 

corporeal  idea  of  the  death  of  a  God  ;  the  mythological  idea  of  a 

family  of  Gods  ;  and  the  Chriftian  fyftem  of  arithmetic,  that  three 

are  of^e,  and  one  is  three,  are  all  irreconcilable,  not  only  to  the 

I  divine  gift  of  reafon  that  God  has  given  to  man,  but  to  the  knowledge 

I  that  man  gains  of  the  power  and  wifdom  of  God,  by  the  aid  of  the 

'  fciences,  and  by  ftudying  the  ftrufcure  of  the  univerfe  that  God  has 

made. 

The  fetters  up,  therefore,  and  the  advocates  of  the  Chriftian 
fyftem  o£  faith,  could  not  but  forefee  that  the  continually  progreffive-  ^ 
knowledge  that  man  would  gain  by  the  aid  of  fcience,  of  the  power 
and  v^^ifdom  of  God,  manilefted  in  the  ftrudure  of  the  univerfe,  and 
in  all  the  works  of  creation,  would  militate  againft,  and  call  into 
queftion,  the  truth  of  their  fyftem  of  faith ;  and  therefore  it 
became  neceffary  to  their  purpofe  to  cut  learning  down  to  a  fize  lefs 
dangerous  to  their  projeft,  and  this  they  effefted  by  reft  rifting  the 
Y^     idea  of  learning  to  the  dead  ftudy  of  dead  languages. 

1  hey  not  only  rejeifled  the  ftudy  of  fcience  out  of  the  Chriftian- 
fchools,  but  they  perfecutedit ;  and  it  is  only  within  about  the  laft  two 
centuries  that  the  ftudy  has  been  revived.  So  late  as  1 6 1  o,  Galileo, 
a  Florentine,  difcovered  and  introduced  the  ufe  of  telefcopes,  and  by 
applying  them  to  obferve  the  motions  and  appearances  of  the  hea- 
venly bodies,  aftbrded  additional  means  for  afcertaining  the  true 
ftrufture  of  the  univerfe.  Inftead  of  being  efteemed  for  thefe  . 
difcoveries,  he  was  fentenced  to  renounce  them,  or  the  opinions 
refulting  from  them,  as  a  damnable  lierefy.  And  prior  to  that  time, 
Vigilius  was  condemned  to  be  burned  for  afierting  the  antipodes,  or 
in  other  words,  that  the  earth  was  a  globe,  and  habitable  in  every 
part  where  there  was  land  ;  yet  the  truth  of  this  is  now  too  well 
known  even  to  be  told. 

If  the  belief  of  errors,  not  morally  bad,  did  no  mifchief,  it  would 
make  tio  part  of  the  moral  duty  of  man  to  oppofe  and  remove  them. 


V 


Part  L  AGEOFREASON.  39 

There  was  no  moral  ill  in  believing  the  earth  was  flat  like  a 
trencher,  any  more  than -there  was  moral' virtue  in  believing  it  was 
round  like  a  globe  ;  neither  was  there  any  moral  ill  in  believing 
that  the  creator  made  no  other  world  than  this,  any  more  than  there 
was  moral  virtue  in  believing-  that  he  made  millions,  and  that  the 
infinity  of  fpace  is  filled  with  worMs.  But  when  a  fyllem  o'i 
religion  is  made  to  grov/  out  of  a  fuppofed  fyllem  of  creation  that 
is  not  true,  and  to  unite  itfelf  therewith  in  a  manner  almoll  infepa- 
rable  therefrom,  the  cafe  aiTumes  an  entirely  different  ground.  It 
is  then  that  errors,  not  morally  bad,  become  fraught  with  the  fame 
mifchiefs  as  if  they  were.  It  is  then  that  the  truth,  though  other- 
wife  indifferent  in  itfelf,  becomes  an  effential,  by  becoming  the 
criterion,  that  either  confirms  by  correfponding  evidence,  or  denies 
by  contradidory  evidence,  the  reality  of  the  religion  itfelf.  In 
this  view  of  the  cafe  it  is  the  moral  duty  of  man  to  obtain  every 
poflible  evidence,  that  the  ftrufture  of  the  heavens,  or  any  other 
part  of  creation  affords,  v/ith  refpeCl:  to  fyflems  of  religion.  Eur 
this,  the  fupporters  or  partizans  of  the  Chriftian  fyftem,  as  if 
dreading  the  refult,  incelfantly  oppofed,  and  not  only  rcjcfted  the 
fciences,  but  perfecuted  the  profejiors.  Had  Newton  or  Defcartes 
lived  three  or  four  hundred  years  ago,  and  purfued  their  fludies  as 
they  did,  it  is  mofl  probable  that  they  would  not  have  lived  to  have 
finiftied  them  ;  and  had  Franklin  drawn  lightning  from  the  clor.ds 
at  the  fame  time,  it  .would  have  been  at  the  hazard  of  expiring  for 
it  in  flames. 

Latter  times  have  laid  all  the  blame  upon  the  Goths  and  Vandals, 
but,  however  unwilling  the  partizans  of  the  Chriftian  fylicm  may 
be  to  believe  or  to  acknowledge  it,  it  is  neverthelefs  true,  that  the 
age  of  ignorance  comm.enced  with  the  Chriftian  fyftem.  There 
was  more  knowledge  in  the  world  before  that  period  than  for  many 
centuries  afterwards ;  and  as  to  religious  knowledge,  the  Chriftian 
fyftem,  as  already  faid,  was  only  another  fpecies  of  mythology  ; 
and  the  mythology  to  which  it  fucceeded,  was  a  corruption  of  an 
ancient  fyftem  of  theifm.* 

*  It  is  tmpojjihle  for  us  non.v  to  k?toiv  at  nvhqt  thne  the  heathen 
mythology  begaiz;  but  it  is  certaiuy  from  the  internal  evidence  that  it 
carnesy  that  it  did  not  begin  in  the  Ja??ie  fate  or  condition  in  'zvhich  it 
ended.  All  the  gods  of  that  mythology,  except  Saturn,  -ivere  of  modern 
tn'vention,  T^he  fuppofed  reign  of  Saturn  n,vas  prior  to  that  nvhich  is 
called  the  heathen  inythoUgy,  and  ^vas  fo  far  a  fpecies  of  theifm  y  that 

E    2 


56  PAINE's     WORKS. 

It  is  owing  to  this  long  interregnum  of  fcience,  and  to  no  ether 
caufey  that  we  have  now  to  look  back  through  a  vaft  chafm  of  many 
hundred  years  to  the  refpeQable  charaders  we  call  the  ancients. 
Had  the  progreffion  of  knowledge  gone  on  proportionably  with  the 
Hock  that  before  exifted,  that  chafm  would  have  been  filled  up  with 
characters  rifmg  fuperior  in  knowledge  to  each  other;  and  thofe 
ancients,  v/e  nov/  fo  much  admire,  would  have  appeared  re^etSably 
in  the  back  ground  of  the  fcene.  But  the  Chrillian  fyllem  laid  all 
wafte  ;  and  if  we  take  our  ftand  about  the  beginning  of  the 'fixteenth/^- 
century,  we  look  back  through  that  long  chafm,  to  the  times  of 
the  ancients,  as  over  a  vail  fandy  defart,  in  which  not  a  fhrub 
appears  to  intercept  the  vifion  to  the  fertile  hills  beyond. 

It  is  an  inconfiftency,  fcarcely  poffible  to  be  credited,  that  any 
thing  ihould  exift  under  the  name  of  a  religion,  that  held  it  to  be 
irreligious  to  Hudy,  and  contemplate  the  ftrufture  of  the  univerfe 
that  God  had  made.  But  the  fad  is  too  well  eftabliflied  to  be 
denied.  The  event  that  ferved  more  than  any  other,  to  break  the 
firll  link  in  this  long  chain  of  defpotic  ignorance,  is  that  known  by 
the  name  of  the  reform.ation  by  Luther.  From  that  time,  though 
it  does  not  appear  to  have  made  any  part  of  the  intention  of  Luther. 

it  admitted  the  belief  of  only  one  God,  Saturn  is  ftippofed  to  ha^e 
abdicated  the  government  iti  fa^voicr  of  his  three  fans  and  erne  daughter^ 
Jupiter^  Pluto,  Neptune  and  funo  ;  after  this,  thoufands  of  other  godi 
and  demz-gods  i^ere  imaginarily  created ,  and  the  calendar  of  gods 
increafed  as  f aft  as  the  calendar  of  faints,  and  the  calendar  of  courts 
ha've  increafed fince. 

All  the  corruptions  that  have  taken  place  in  theology  y  and  in  religion, 
have  been  produced  ly  admitting  of  vjh at  man  calls  revealed  religion. 
%he  mythologifis pretended  to  more  revealed  religion  than  the  Chrijiians 
do.  They  had  their  oracles  and  their  priefts,  ivho  v^ere  fnppofed  to 
recei've  and  deliver  the  <word  of  God  verbally  on  almofi  all  occafions. 

Since  then  all  corruptions,  dovcn  from  Moloch  to  modern  predefina^ 
rianifm,  and  from  the  human  facrifices  of  the  heathens  to  the  Chrifiian 
facrjjice  ef  the  Creator,  have  been  produced  by  admitting  ivhat  zs 
called  revealed  religion,  the  mofi  effectual  means  to  pre<vent  allfuch 
evils  and  impofttions,  is  not  to  admit  of  any  other  revelation  than  that 
(ivhich  IS  manifefed  in  the  book  of  Creation  ;  and  to  contemplate  the 
Creation,  as  the  only  true  and  real  voord  of  God  that  ever  did  or  ever 
nvill  exif,  and  that  every  thing  elfe,  called  the  vjord  of  Gody  is  fable 
and  impofttion. 


Part  I.  A  G  E    O  F    R  K  A  S  O  N.  37 

or  of  th'oi'e  who  are  catled  reformers,  the  Sciences  began  to  revive, 
and  Liberality,  their  natural  aiTociate,  began  to  appear.  This  was 
the  only  public  good  the  reformation  did  ;  for  with  refpeft  to 
religious  good,  it  might  as  well  not  have  taken  place.  The 
mythology  ftill  continued  the  fame  ;  and  a  multiplicity  of  national 
popes  grew  out  of  the  downfal  oi^  the  Pope  of  Chriil«*fidom. 

Having  thus  (hewn,  from  the  internal  evidence  of  tilings,  the 
caufe  that  produced  a  change  in  the  flate  of  learning,  and  the  motive 
for  fubllituting  the  lludy  of  the  dead  languages  in  the  place  of  the 
Sciences,  I  proceed,  in  addition  to  the  feveral  obfervations  already  ^ 
made  in  the  former  part  of  this  work,  to  compare,  or  rather  to 
confront,  the  evidence  that  the  ftru6ture  of  the  nniverfe  affords, 
with  the  Chriftian  fyftem  of  religion?^  But  as  I  cannot  begin  this 
part  better  than  by  referring  to  the  ideas  that  occurred  to  me  at  an 
early  part  of  life,  and  which  I  doubt  not  have  occurred  in  foine 
degree  to  almoft  every  other  perfon  at  one  time  or  odier,  I  fhail 
ftate  what  thofe  ideas  were,  and  add  thereto  fuch  other  matter  as 
(hall  arife  out  of  the  fubjecf,  giving  to  the  whole,  by  way  of 
preface,  a  fhort  introduv^'lion. 

My  father  being  of  the  quaker  profeiTion,  it  was  my  good  fortune 
to  have  an  exceedingly  good  moral  education,  and  a  tolerable  flock 
of  ufeful  learning.  Though  I  went  to  the  grammar  fchool,**  I 
did  not  learn  Latin,  not  only  becaufe  I  liad  no  inclination  toleatn 
languages,  but  becaufe  of  the  objeftion  the  Quakers  have  againft 
the  books  in  which  the  language  is  taught.  Eut  this  did  not 
prevent  me  from  being  acquainted  with  the  fubjefts  of  all  the  Latin 
books  uied  in  the  fchool. 

The  natural  bent  of  my  mind  was  to  fcience.  I  had  fonie  turn, 
and  I  believe  fome  talent,  for  poetry  i  but  this  I  rather  repreifed 
than  encouraged,  as  leading  too  much  into  the  field  of  imag\/iaticn. 
As  foon  as  I  was  able  I  purchafed  a  pair  of  globes,  and  ■dtti:ndt<i 
the  philofophical  le<^ures  of  Martin  and  Fergufon,  and  became 
afterwards  acquainted  with  Dr.  Bevis,  of  the  fociety  called  th^ 
Royal  Society,  then  living  in  the  Temple,  and  an  excellent 
aftronomer. 

I  had  no  difpofition  for  what  was  called  politics.  It  prefented  to 
my  mind  no  other  idea  thah  is  contained  in  the  word  Jockeyihip. 
When,  therefore,  I  turned  my  thoughts  towards  matters  of  govern- 

*  ^he  fame  fchool y  ThetforJ,  in  Norfolk,  that  the  prefcnt  counfellor 
Mvigay  ivent  to,  and  under  the  fame  mafier. 


33  PAINE's     WORKS. 

ment,  I  had  to  form  a  fyftem  for  myfelf,  that  accorded  with  the 
moral  and  philofopjiic  principles  in  which  I  had  been  educated. 
I  faw,  or  at  ieaft  I  thought  I  faw^  a  vaft  fcene  opening  itfelf  to  the 
v/orld  in  the  affairs  of  America ;  and  it  appeared  to  me,  that  unlefs 
the  Americans  changed  the  plan  they  were  then  purfuing,  v*^ith 
Tcfpe^l  to  the  government  of  England,  and  declared  themfelves 
independent,  they  would  not  only  invoh^e  themfelves  in  a  multipli- 
city of  new  difficulties,  but  Ihut  out  the  profpeft  that  was  then 
offering  itfelf  to  mankind  through  their  means.  It  was  from  thefe 
motives  that  I  pubiifned  the  work  known  by  the  name  of  Cornmon 
Senfey  which  is  the  firft  work  I  ever  did  publifli :  and  fo  far  as  I 
can  judge  of  myfelf,  I  believe  I  never  Ihould  have  been  known  in 
the  world  as  an  author  on  any  fubje£l  whatever,  had  it  not  been 
for  the  affairs  of  America.  I  wrote  Common  Senfe  the  latter  end 
of  the  year  1775,  and  publiihed  it  the  firft  of  January,  1776. 
Independence  was  declared  the  fourth  of  July  following. 

Any  perfon  «vho  has  made  obfervations  on  the  ftate  and  progrefs 
of  the  human  mind,  by  obferving  his  own,  cannot  but  have 
obferred,  that  there  are  two  dillin6l  clafies  of  what  we  call 
Thoughts :  thofe  that  we  produce  in  ourfelves  by  refleclion  and  the 
?6l  of  thinking,  and  thofe  that  boltjnto  the  mind  of  their  own 
accord.  I  have  always  made  it  a  rule  to  treat  thofe  voluntary 
vifitors  with  civility,  taking  care  to  examine,  as  well  as  I  was 
able,  if  they  were  worth  entertaining  ;  and  it  is  from  them  I  have 
acquired  almoil  all  the  knowledge  that  I  have.-  As  to  the  learning 
that  any  perfon  gains  from  fchool  education,  it  ferves  only,  like  a 
fmriil  capital,  to  put  him  in  the  way  of  beginning  learning  for 
himfelf  after^vards.  Every  perfon  of  learning  is  finally  his  own 
teacher;  the  reafon  of  which  is,  that  principles,  being  of  a  diflinft 
quality  to  circumftances,  cannot  be  impreffed  upon  the  memory. 
Their  place  of  mental  refidence  is  the  uhderftanding,  and  they  are 
never  fo  lafting  as  when  they  begin  by  conception.  Thus  much 
for  the  introduiJ^ory  part. 

From  the  time  I  wa*s  capable  of  conceiving  an  idea,  and  afting 
upon  it  by  refleftion,  I  either  doubted  the  truth  of  the  Chriftian 
fyftem,  or  thought  it  to  be  a  fcrange  affair;  I  fcarcely  know  which 
it  was :  but  I  well  remember,  when  about  feven  or  eight  years  of 
age,  hearing  a  fermon  read  by  a  relation  of  mine,  who  was  a  great 
devotee  of  the  church,  upon  the  fubjed  of  what  is  called  Redemption 
by  the  Death  of  the  Son  cf  God.  After  the  fermon  was  ended,  I 
went  into  the  garden,    and  as  I  was  going  down  the  garden  Heps 


Fai(t-L'  age    0  1     REASON.  39 

(for  I  perfedliy  recolIe(5l  the  fpot)  I  revolted  at  the  recollection 
ot  what  I  had  heard,  and  thought  to  myfclf  that  "it  Avas  making 
God  Ahnighty  aft  like  a  palFionate  man  that  killed  his  foa 
when  he  could  not  revenge  himfelf  any  other  way ;  and  as  I  was 
fure  a  man  would  be  hanged  that  did  fuch  a  thing,  I  could  not  fee 
for  what  purpofe  they  preached  fuch  fermons.  This  was  not  one 
of  thofe  kind  of  thoughts  that  had  any  thing  in  it  of  childifh 
levity ;  it  was  to  me  a  ferious  refieftion  arifmg  from  the  idea  I 
had,  that  God  was  too  good  to  do  fuch  an  acftion,  and  alfo  too 
Almighty  to  be  under  any  neceiTity  of  doing  it.  I  believe  in  the 
fame  manner  to  this  moment :  and  I  moreover  believe,  that  any  , 
fyflem  of  religion  that  has  any  tiling  in  it  that^hx>cks_the_jiiind_of,^^^  ^ 
ajchild^  cannot  be  a  true  fyfcem.  •.  -^^t-*-**,^  t 

.    It  feems  as  if  parents  of  the  Chriftian  profelTion  were  alliamed  to^  '^i^ 
tell  their  children  any  thing  about  the  principles  of  their  religion.'^  "^ 
They  fometimes  inftruft  them   in  morals,  and  talk  to  them  of  the" 
goodnefs  of  v/hat  they  call  Providence ;  for  the  Chrifliarf  mythology 
has  five  deities  :  there  i^  God  the  Father,  God  the  Sea,  God  the 
Holy  Ghoft,  the  God  Providence,  and  the  Goddefs  Nature.     But 
the  Chriftian  ftory  of  God  the  Father  putting  his  fon  to  death,  or 
employing  people  to  do  it  (for  that  is   the  plain  language   of   the 
ftory)  cannot  be  told  by  a  parent  to  a  child ;   and  to  tell  him  that 
it  was  done  to  make  mankind  happier  and  better,   is  making  the 
ftory  ftill  worfe,  as  if  mankind  could  be  improved  by  the  example 
©f  murder  ;  and  to  tell  him  that  all   this   is    a   myftery,   is   only 
making  an  excufe  for  the  incredibility  of  it. 

How  different  is  this  to  the  pure  and  fimple  profefTion  of  Deifm! 
The  true  deill  has  but  one  Deity  ;  and  his  religion  confifts  in  con- 
templating the  power,  wifdom,  and  benignity  of  the  Deity  in  his 
works,  and  in  endeavouring  to  imitate  him  in  every  thing  moral, 
fcientifical,  and  mechanical. 

The  religion  that   approaches  the  neareft   of  all  others  to  true 
deifm,    in  the  mor:;l  and  benign  part  thereof,  is  that  profeffed  by 
the  Quakers,    but  they  have  contraded  themielves   too  much  by 
leaving  the  works  of  God  out  of  their  fyftem.     Though  I  reverence  f(^,'  f  t 
their    philanthropy,  I   cannot    help  fmiling  at    the  conceit,   that  ''j       . 
if  the  tafte  of  a  Quaker  could  have  been  confulted  at  the  cteationr^rTZ  7. 
what  a  filent    and   drab-coloared   creation    it   would    have   been.  '*••  {a , ,  £^ 
Not  a   flower   would  have  blolTomed  its  gaities ;  nor  a  bird  been  1<  j^t/^ 
permitted  to  fmg.  tji  1  j .  mi 

Quitting  thcfe  reflexions,  I  proceed  to  other  matters.     After  I 


40  PAINE's     WORKS. 

had  made  myfelf  mafter  of  the  ufe  of  the  globes  and  cf  the  orrery,* 
and  conceived  an  idea  of  the  iniinity  of  fpace,  and  of  the  eternal 
divilibility  of  matter,  and  obtained,  at  lealt,  a  general  knowledge  ot 
what  is  called  natural  philofophy,  I  began  to  compare,  or,  as  I  have 
before  faid,  to  confront,  the  internal  evidence  thofe  things  afford 
wi:h  the  Chriftian  fyilem  of  faith. 

Though  it  is  not  a  dire«^  article  of  the  Chriftlsn  fyilem  that  this 

world  £hac  we  inhabit  is  the  v/liole  of  the  habitable  creation,  yet 

it  is  fo  worked  up    therewith,    from    what  is  called  the  Mofaic 

■account  of  the  creation,   the  ftory  of  Eve  and  the   apple,    and  the 

counterpart  of  that  llory,  the   death   of  the    fon  ot  God,   that  to 

believe  otherwife,  that  is,    to  believe  that  God  created  a  plurality 

of  worlds,  at  kail  as  numerous  as  what  we  call  ftars,    renders    the 

Chriilian  fyftem  of  faith  at  once  little  and  ridiculous  ;    and  fcatt^rs 

.  .^it  in  the  mind  like  feathers  in  the  air.     The  two  beliefs  cannot  be 

l*Zti.hi:ld  together  in  the  fame  mind  ;  and  he  who  thinks  that  he  believes 

?^/t)cth,  has  thought  but  little  of  either. 

/e^A>ln^  Though  the  belief  of  a  plurality  of  worlds  was  familiar  to  the 
ancients,  it  is  only  within  the  laft  three  centuries  that  the 
extent  and  dimenfions  of  this  globe  that  we  inhabit,  have  been 
afcertained.  Several  velTels,  foilov/ing  the  tracl  of  the  ocean, 
have  failed  entirely  round  the  world,  as  a  man  may  march  in  a 
circle,  and  come  round  by  the  contrary  fide  of  the  circle,  to  the 
fpot  he  fet  out  from.  The  circular  dimenfions  of  our  world  in  the 
wideft  part,  as  a  man  would  meafure  the  wideft  round  of  an 
apple  or  a  bail,  is  only  twenty-five  thoufand  and  twenty 
Englifii  miles,  reckoning  fixty-nine  miles  and  an  half  to  an 
equatorial  degree,  and  may  be  failed  round  in  the  fpace  of  about 
three  years. i 

*  j^s  this  hook  may  fall  i?!to  the  hands  of  perfom  'who  do  not  knonxj 
nji'hat  an  orrery  is,  it  is  for  their  information  I  add  this  note,  as  the 
Tiame  gi'ves  no  idea  of  the  ufes  of  the  thing.  The  orrery  has  its  name' 
from  the  perfon  <u:ho  in'vented  it,  Jt  is  a  inachinery  of  clock-ivork 
reprefentmg  the  wii'verfe  in  miniature  ;  and  in  "vjhich  the  re'VQluti07i  of 
the  e^rth  round  it felf  and  round  the  fun,  the  resolution  of  the  moon 
round  the  tarthy  the  re<volution  of  the  planets  round  the  fun,  their 
relati've  difta?:cesfrom  the  f mi  as  the  centre  of  the  njohole  fyjiem,  their 
rdatinje  d'.Jlojices  from  each  other,  and  their  different  magnitudes,  are 
reprejented  as  they  really  exiji  in  njjhat  ive  call  the  heathens, 

f  Allonj^ing  afhip  tofaily  on  an  awerage^  three  miles  in  an  hottr^ 


^ 


Part  L  A  G  E    O  F    R  E  A  S  O  N.  41 

A  world  of  this  extent  may,  at  firft  thought,  appear  to  us  to  be 
great ;  but  if  we  compare  it  with  the  imraenuty  of  fpace  in  whicU 
it  is  fufpended,  like  a  bubble  or  a  balloon  in  the  air,  it  is  infinitely 
lefs  in  proportion  than  the  fmalleil  grain  of  fand  is  to  the  fize  of  the 
world,  or  the  fineft  particle  of  dew  to  the  whole  ocean  ;  and  is  there ^ 
fore  but  fmall  ;  and,  as  will  be  iiereafter  fhewn,  is  only  o-ne  of  a 
fvftem  of  worlds,  of  which  the  .|iiverfal  creation  is  compofed. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  gain  fome  fairit  idea,  of  the  immeniity  of 
fpace  in  which  thi#  and  all  the  other  v/orlds  are  fufpended,  if  we 
follow  a  pfogrefHon  of  ideas.  When  we  think  of  the  fize  or  dimen- 
fions  of  a  room,  our  ideas  limit  themfelves  to  the  walls,  and  there 
they  Hop.  33ut  when  our  eye,  or  our  imagination,  darts  into  fpacc, 
that  is,  when  it  looks  upward  into  what  we  call  the  open  air,  we 
K'annot  conceive  any  walls  or  boundaries  it  can  have ;  and  if  for  the 
fake  of  refting  our  ideas,  v/e  fuppofe  a  boundary,  the  queilion 
immediately  renews  itfelf,  and  afks,  what  is  beyond  that  boundary 
And  in  the  fame  manner,  v/hat  is  beyond  the  next  boundary  ?  And 
fo  on,  till  the  fatigued  imagination  returns  and  fays,  there  is  no  end^ 
Certainly,  then,  the  Creator  was  not  pent  for  room  when  he  made 
this  world  no  larger  than  it  is ;  and  we  have  to  feek  the  reafon  in 
fomething  elfe. 

If  v/e  take  a  furvey  of  our  own  world,  or  rather  of  this,  of 
which  the  Creator  has  given  us  the  ufe,"  as  our  portion  in  the  immenfe 
fyftem  of  creation,  we  find  every  part  of  it,  the  earth,  the  waters, 
and  the  air  that  furround  it,  filled,  and,  as  it  Vv^ere,  crouded  with 
life,  down  from  the  largeft  animals  that  we  know  of,  to  the  fmallcll 
infefts  the  naked  eye  can  behold,  and  from  thence  to  others  dill 
Smaller,  and  totally  invifible  without  the  afllilance  of  the  microfcope. 
Every  tree,  every  plant,  every  leaf,  ferves  not  only  as  an  habitation, 
but  as  a  world  to  fome  numerous  race,  till  animal  exiftence  becomes 
fo  exceedingly  refined,  that  the  effluvia  of  a  blade  of  grafs  would  be 
food  for  thoufands. 

Since  then  no  part  of  our  earth  is  left  unoccupied,  why  is  it  to  be 
fuppofed,  that  the  immenfity  of  fpace  is  a  naked  void,  lying  in 
eternal  wafte?  There  is  room  for  millions  of  worlds  as  large  or 
larger  than  ours,  and  each  of  them  millions  of  miles  apart  from 
each  other. 

jhe  nxjQuUfai!  efttifdy  round  the  iMorld  in  lefs  than  one  year,  ifjhe  could 
fad  m  a  dired  circle;  but  Jhe  is  obliged  to  fJh'M  the  cour/e  of  tie 
3cean, 


4^  PAINE's     WORKS. 

Having  now  arrived  at  this  point,  if  we  carry  our  ideas  only  one 
thought  further,  we  (hall  fee,  perhaps,  the  true  reafon,  at  leaft  a 
very  good  reafon  for  our  happinefs,  why  the  Creator,  inftead  of 
mak'ingvone  immenfe  v/orld,  extending  over  an  immenfe  quantity  of 
fpace,  has  •  preferred  dividing  that  quantity  of  matter  into  feveral 
diftinil  snd  feparate  worlds,  which  we  call  planets,  of  which  our 
earth  is  one.  But  before  I  explain  my  ideas  upon  this  fubjeft,  it  is 
neceffary  (not  for  the  fake  of  thofe  that  already  know,  but  for  thofe 
who  do  not)  to  fhew  what  thefyftem  of  the  univerfeis. 

That  part  of  the  univerfe  that  is  called  the  folar  fyftem  (meaning 
the  fyilemof  worlds  to  v/hich  our  earth  belongs,  and  of  which  Sol, 
or  in  Englifli  language  the  Sun,  is  the  centre)  conlifts,  befides  the 
Sun,  of  fix  diftinft  orbs,  or  planets,  or  worlds,  befides  the  fecondary 
bodies,  called  fatellites,  or  moons,  of  which  our  earth  has  one  that 
attends  her  in  her  annual  revolution  round  the  fun,  in  like  manner  as 
the  other  fatellites,  or  moons,  attend  the  planets,  or  worlds,  to 
which  th'cy  feverally  belong,  as  may  be  feen  by  the  affiftance  of  the 
telefcope. 

The  Sun  is  the  centre,  round  which  thofe  fix  worlds,  or  planets, 
revolve  at  different  diftances  therefrom,  and  in  circles  concentric  to 
each  other.  Each  world  keeps  conftantly  in  nearly  the  fame  tradl 
round  the  Sun,  and  continues,  at  the  fame  time,  turning  round  itfelf, 
ia  nearly  an  upright  pofition,  as  atop  turns  round  itfelf  when  it  is 
(pinning  on  the  ground,  and  leans  a  little  fideways. 
,"  It  is  this  leaning  of  the  earth,  (23I  degrees)  that  occafions 
fummer  and  winter,  and  the  different  length  of  days  and  nights. 
If.  the  earth  turned  round  itfelf  in  a  pofition  perpendicular  to  the 
plane  or  level  of  the  circle  it  moves  in  round  the  fun,  as  a  top  turns 
round  when  it  flands  ereft  on  the  ground,  the  days  and  nights  would 
be  always  of  the  fame  length,  twelve  hours  day,  and  twelve  hours 
night,  and  the  feafon  would  be  uniformly  the  fame  throughout  the  year. 

Every  time  that  a  planet  (our  earth  for  example)  turns  round  itfelf, 
it  makes  what  we  call  day  and  night ;  and  every  time  it  goes  entirely 
round  the  fun,  it  makes  what  we  call  a  year,  confequently  our 
world  turns  three  hundred  and  fixty-five  times  round  itfelf,  in  going 
onte  round  the  fun.* 

*  Thofe  nvho  fuppofediuhat  the  Sun  ijoent  round  the  earth  every  24 
hours  y  made  the  fame  m'l/iake  in  idea,  that  a  cook  ^would  do  infamy  that 
fiiould  make  the  fire  go  round  the  meaty  injfead  of  the  meat  turning 
itfelf  round  tQ<wardi  the  fire. 


Part  I.  AGE    OFREASON. 


43 


The  names  that  the  ancients  gave  to  thofe  fix  worlds,  and  which 
are  ilill  called  by  the  fame  names,  are  Mercury,  Venus,  this  world 
that  we  call  ours.  Mars,  Jupiter,  and  Saturn.  They  appear  larger 
to  the  eye  than  the  ftars,  being  many  million  miles  nearer  to  our 
earth  than  any  of  the  liars  are.  The  planet  Venus  is  that  which  is 
called:  the  Evening  Star,  and  fometimes  the  Morning  Star,  as  ihi 
happens  to  be  fet  after,  or  rife  before  the  fun,  which,  in  either  cafe, 
is  never  more  than  three  hours. 

The  fun,  as  before  faid,  being  the  centre,  the  planet,  or  world, 
neareft  the  fun,  is  Mercury ;  his  diftance  from  the  fun  is  thirty-four 
million  miles,  and  he  moves  round  in  a  circle  always  at  that  diftance 
from  the  fun,  as  a  top  may  be  fuppofed  to  fpin  round  in  the  trad  in 
which  a  horfe  goes  in  a  mill.  The  fecond  world  is  Venus;  fhe  is 
fifty-feven  million  miles  diftant  from  the  fun,  and  confequentiy  moves 
round  in  a  circle  much  greater  than  that  of  Mercury.  The  third 
world  is  this  that  we  inhabit,  and  which  is  eighty-eight,  million 
miles  diftant  from  the  fun,  and  confequentiy  moves  round  in,  a  circle 
greater  than  that  of  Venus.  The  fourth  world  is  Mars;  he  is 
diftant  from  the  fun  one  hundred  and  thirty-four  million  miles,  and 
confequentiy  moves  round  in  a  circle  greater  than  that  of  Qur  earth. 
The  fifth  is  Jupiter:  he  is  diftant  from  the  fun  five  hundred  and 
fifty-feven  million  miles,  and  confequentiy  moves  round  in  a  circle 
greater  than  that  of  Mars.  The  fixth  world  is  Saturn ;  he  is  diftant 
irom  the  fun  feven  hundred  and  fixty-three  million  miles,  and 
confequentiy  moves  round  in  a  circle  that  furrounds  the  circles  or 
orbits  of  ail  the  other  worlds  or  planets. 

The  fpace,  therefore,  in  the  air,  or  in  the  immenfity  of  fpace, 
that  our  foiar  fyftem  takes  up  for  the  feveral  worlds  to  perform  their 
revolutions  in  round  the  fun,  is  of  the  extent  in  a  ftrait  line  of  the 
whole  diameter  of  the  orbit  or  circle,  in  which  Saturn  moves  round 
the  fun,  which  being  double  his.  diftance  from  the  fun,  is  fifteen 
hundred  and  twenty-fix  million  hfiles ;  and  its  circular  extent  is 
nearly  five  thoufand  million,  and  its  globical  content  is  almoft  three 
thoufand  five  hundred  million  times  three  thoufand  five  hundred 
million  fqu.arc  miles.* 

If  it  Jhoiild  he  ajkedy  ho-a>  ca?i  jnan  hionjo  thefe  thhtgs  ?  I  hanje 
6ne  plain  an/nxjer  to  g'l^e,  which  is,  that  man  knouos  houo  to  calculate 
an  eclipfe,  and  alfo  honv  to  calculate,  to  a  minute  of  time,  'when  the 
planet  P enus,  in  ?naking  her  re'volutiom  round  the  Sun,  will  come  in 
a  ftrait   Imc  between  our  earth  and  the  fun,   and  will  appear  to  ns 

F  z 


44  PA  INE's     WORKS. 

But  this,  immcnfe  as  it  is,  is  only  one  fyftem  of  worlds.  Beyond 
this,  at  a  vail  diiiance  into  fpace,  far  beyond  all  power  of  calculation, 
are  the  ilars  called  the  fixed  ftars.  They  are  called  fixed,  becaufe 
they  have  no  revoluticnary  motion,  as  the  fix  worlds,  or  planets 
have  that  I  have  been  defcribing.  Thofe  fixed  ftars  continue  always 
at  the  fame  diftance  from  each  other,  and  always  in  the  fame  place, 
as  the  fun  does  in  the  centre  of  our  fyftem.  The  probability, 
therefore,  is,  that  each  of  thofe  fixed  ftars  is  alfo  a  fun,  round 
which  ancther  fyftem  of  v/orlds,  or  planets,  though  too  remote  for 
us  to  difcover,  performs  its  revolutions,  as  cur  fyftem  of  worlds 
does  round  our  central  fun. 

Ey  this  eafy  progreftion  of  ideas,  the  immenfity  of  fpace  will 
appear  to  us  to  be  iiiled  v/ith  fyftems  of  worlds ;  and  that  no  part  of 
fpace  lies  at  v/afte,  any  more  than  any  part  of  our  globe  of  earth  and 
v/ater  is  left  unoccupied. 

Having  thus  endeavoured  to  convey,  in  a  familiar  and  eafy 
manner,  fome  idea  of  the  ftructure  of  the  univerfe,  I  return  to 
oplain  what  I  before  alluded  to,  namely,  the  great  benefits  arifng 
to  man  in  confequence  of  the  Creator  having  made  a  plurality  oi 
worlds,  fuch  as  cur  fyftem  is,  confifting  of  a  central  fun  and  ftx 
worlds,  befides  fatellites,  in  preference  to  that  of  creating  one 
world  only  of  a  vaft  extent. 

It  is  an  idea  I  have  never  loft  fight  of,  that  all  our  knowledge  of 
fcience  is  derived  from  the  revolutions  (exhibited  to  our  eye,  and 
from  thence  to  our  underftanding)  which  thofe  feveral  planets,  or 
worlds,  of  which  cur  fyftem  is  compofed,  make  in  their  circuit 
round  the  fun. 

Had  then  the  quantity  of  matter  which  thefe  ftx  worlds  contain, 

ahcnt  the  Jize  of  a  large  pea  pajjing  acrofs  the  face  of  the  fun.  Thts 
happens  but  t'v.'ice  in  aaont  an  hundred  years,  at  the  djjrance  of  aboui 
eight  years  from  each  other ^  and  has  happened  t"jJice  in  our  ttmej  both 
of  iL'kich  n.vcre  fore-knonjjn  hy  calculation.  It  can  alfo  he  knonjjn 
~ojhen  they  <^vill  happen  a? am  for  a  thoufand years  to  come^  or  to  any 
other  portion  of  time.  As,  therefore,  man  could  not  be  able  to  da  thofe 
ih':n7j  if  he  did  not  underfand  the  folar  Jyjlem,  and  the  matiner  in 
<^jjh:ch  the  re'volutions  of  the  federal  planets  or  nfjorlds  are  performed , 
the  fa^  of  calculati?ig  aneclipfe  or  a  tranftt  of  Venus,  is  a  proof  in 
point  that  the  hic^ucledge  exijis;  and  as  toafenv  thoufand,  or  e^ven  a 
fe^M  million  miles,  more  or  lefs,  it  makes  fcarcely  any  fenfihle  difference 
IK  fuch  immenfe  dijiances^ 


Part  I.  A  G  E    O  F     R  E  A  S  O  N.  45 

been  blended  into  one  folitary  globe,  the  confequence  to  us  would 
have  been,  that  either  no  revolutionary  motion  would  have  exifted, 
or  not  a  fufficiency  of  it  to  give  us  the  ideas  and  the  knowledge  of 
fcience  we  now  have;  ana  it  is  from  the  fciences  that  all  the 
mechanical  arts  that  contribute  fo  much  to  our  earthly  felicity  and 
comfort  are  derived. 

As  therefore  the  Creator  made  nothing  in  vain,  fo  alfo  muft  it  be 
believed  that  he  organized  the  ftrufture  of  the  univerfe  in  the  mod 
advantageous  manner  for  the  benefit  of  man ;  and  as  we  fee,  and 
from  experience  feel,  the  benefits  we  derive  from  the  ftrufture  ' 
of  the  univerfe,  formed  as  it  is,  which  benefits  we  fhould  not  have 
had  the  opportunity  of  enjoying,  if  the  ftrufture,  fo  far  as  relates 
to  our  fyilcm,  had  been  a  folitary  globe,  we  can  difcover,  at  leail, 
one  reafon  why  a  plurality  of  v/orids  has  been  made,  and  that  reafon 
calls  forth  the  devotional  ei'atitade  of  man,  as  well  as  his  adm.iration. 

But  it  is  not  to  us,  the  inhabitants  of  this  globe>  only,  that  the 
benefits  arifing  from  a  plurality  of  worlds  are  limited.  The 
inhabitants  of  each  of  the  worlds,  of  v/hich  our  fyllem  is  compofed, 
enjoy  the  fame  opportunities  of  knowledge  as  we  do.  They  behold 
the  revolutionary  motions  of  our  earth,  as  we  behold  theirs.  All 
the  planets  revolve  in  fight  of  each  other ;  and  therefore  the  fame 
univerfal  fchool  of  fcience  prefents  itfelf  to  all. 

Neither  does  the  knowledge  Hop  here.  The  fyftem  of  worlds 
next  to  us,  exhibits  in  its  revolutions,  the ■>  fame  principles  and 
fchooi  of  fcience  to  the  inhabitants  of  their  fyftem,  as  our  fyllem 
does  to  us,  and  in  like  manner  throughout  the  immenfity  of  fpace. 

Our  ideas,  not  only  of  the  Almightinefs  of  the  Creator,  but  of 
his  wifdom  and  his  beneficence,  become  enlarged  in  proportion  as 
we  contemplate  the  extent  and  the  ftrufture  of  the  univerfe.  The 
folitary  idea  of  a  folitary  world  rolling,  or  at  reft,  in  the  immenfe 
ocean  of  fpace,  gives  place  to  the  chearful  idea  of  a  fociety  of 
v/orlds,  fo  happily  contrived,  as  to  adminifter,  even  by  their 
motion,  inftruftion  to  man.  We  fee  our  own  earth  filled  with 
abundance ;  but  we  forget  to  confider  how  much  of  that  abundance 
is  owing  to  the  fcientific  knowledge  the  vaft  machinery  of  the  uni- 
verfe has  unfolded. 

But,  in  the  midft  of  thofe  refle(51ions,  what  are  we  to  think  of 
the  Chriftian  fyftem  of  faith  that  forms  itfelf  upon  the  idea  of  only 
one"  world,  and  that  of  no  greater  extent,  as  is  before  (hewn,  than 
twenty-five  thoufand  miles.  An  extent,  which  a  man  walking  at 
tke  rate  of  three  miies  an  hour,  for  twelve  hours  in  the  day,  could 


46  PAINE's     WORKS. 

he  keep  on  in  a  circular  diredion,  would  walk  entirely  round  in  lefs 
than  two  years.  Alas !  what  is  this  to  the  mighty  ocean  of  fpace, 
and  the  Almighty  power  of  the  Creator ! 

From  whence  then  could  arife  the  folitary  and  ftrange  conceit 
that  the  Almighty,  who  had  millions  of  worlds  equally  dependent 
on  his  protcftion,  fhould  quit  the  care  of  all  the  reft,  and  come  to 
die  in  our  worlds  becaufe,  they  fay,  one  man  and  one  woman  had 
eaten  an  apple.  And,  on  the  other  hand,  are  we  to  fuppofe  that 
every  world,  in  the  boundlefs  creation,  had  an  Eve,  an  apple,  a 
ferpent,^  and  a  redeemer.  In  this  cafe,  the  perfon  who  is  irreverently 
called  the  Son  of  God,  and  fometimes  God  himfelf,  vvould  have 
nothing  elfe  to  do  than  to  travel  from  world  to  world,  in  an  end- 
lefs  fucceiTxon  of  death,  v/ith  fcarcely  a  momentary  interval  of 
life. 

It  has  been,  by  rejedling  the  evidence,  that  the  word,  or  works 

of  God  in  the  creation,  affords  to  our  fenfes,  and  the  adion  of  our 

rea'-jn   upon    that    evidence,    that    fo   many    wild  and    wbimfical 

fyftems  of  faith  and  of  religion,  have  been  fabricated  and  fet   up. 

Txicre  m:iy    be  many  fyftems  of  religion,  that   fo  far  from   being 

moral -y  bad,   are  in  many  refpecls  morally  good  :  but   there  can  be 

but  ONE  that  is  true  ;   and  that  one,  neceffarily  muft,  as  it  ever  will, 

be  in  all  things  confiitent  with  the  ever  exifting  word  of  God  that 

/  we  behold  in  his  works.   But  fuch  is  the  ftrange  conftruCtion  of  the 

\  Chriftian  fyftem  of  faith,  that  every  evidence  the  heavens  affords 

Vto  man,  either  direitly  contradifts  it,  or  renders  it  abfurd. 

It  is  poaible  to  believe,  and  I  always  feci  pieafure  in  encouraging 
myfcif  to  beiieve  it,  that  there  have  been  men  in  the  world  who 
perfuaded  themfelves  that,  what  is  called  a  pious  fraud y  might,  at 
Icaft,  under  particular  circumftances,  be  produftive  of  fome  good. 
But  the  fraud  being  once  eitabiifhed,  could  not  afterwards  be 
explained;  for  it  is  with  a  pious  fraud,  as  with  a  bad  adion,  it 
begets  a  calamitous  necefiity  of  going  on. 

I'he  perfons  who  firft  preached  the  Chriftian  fyftem  of  faith,  and 
in  fonie  meafure  combined  with  it  the  morality  preached  by  Jefus 
Chrift,  might  perfuade  themfelves  that  it  was  better  than  the 
heathen  mythology  that  then  prevailed.  From  the  firft  preachers, 
the  fraud  went  on  to  the  fecond,  and  to  the  third,  till  the  idea  of 
its  being  a  pious  fraud  became  loft  in  the  belief  of  its  being  true ; 
and  that  belief  came  again  encouraged  by  the  intereft  of  thofe  who 
made  a  livelihood  by  preaching  it. 

But   though  fuch  a   belief  m.ight,  by  fuch  means,    be  rendered 


Part  L  A  G  E    O  F    R  E  A  S  O  N. 


almoft  general  among  the  laity,  it  is  next  to  impoiTible  to  account 
for  the  continual  perfecution  carried  on  by  the  church,  for  feveral 
hundred  years,  againft  the  fciences  and  againll  the  profelTors  of 
fcience,  if  the  church  had  not  fome  record  or  fome  tradition,  that 
it  was  originally  no  other  than  a  pious  fraud,  or  did  not  foreile, 
that  it  could  not  be  maintained  againll  the  evidence  that  the 
ftrudlure  of  the  univerfe  afforded. 

Having  thus  fhewn  the  irreconcileable  inconliilencies  betv/een  the 
jreal  word  of  God  exifting  in  the  univerfe,  and  that  which  is  called, 
the  'word  of  Qod,  as  fhewn  to  us  in  a  printed  book,  that  any  man 
might  make,  I  proceed  to  fpeak  of  the  three  principal  means  that 
have  been  employed  in  all  ages,  and  perhaps  in  all  countries,  to 
impofe  upon  mankind. 

Thofe  three  means  are.  My  fiery,  Miracle,  and  Prophecy.  The 
two  firft  are  incompatible  with  true  religion,  and  the  third  ought 
always  to  be  fufpeded. 

With  refped  to  my  fiery,  every  thing  we  behold  is,  in  one  fenie, 
a  myfttry  to  us.  Our  own  exiilence  is  a  myllery :  the  whole 
vegetable  world  is  a  m.yllery.  We  cannot  account  how  it  is  that 
an  acorn,  when  put  into  the  ground,  is  made  to  develop  itfelf,  and 
become  an  oak.  We  know  not  how  it  is  that  the  feed  we  fow 
unfolds  and  multiplies  itfelf,  and  returns  to  us  fuch  an  abundant 
intereft  for  fo  fmall  a  capital. 

The  fact,  however,  as  diftinfl  from  the  operating  caufe,  is  not  a 
myllery  becaufe  we  fee  it ;  and  we  know  alfo  the  means  we  are  to 
ufe,  which  is  no  other  than  putting  the  feed  in  the  ground.  We 
know  therefore  as  much  as  is  neceffary  for  us  to  know  ;  and  th^.t 
part  of  the  operation  that  we  do  not  know,  and  which  if  we  did, 
we  could  not  perform,  the  Creator  takes  upon  himfelf  and  performs 
it  for  us.  We  are  therefore  better  off  than  if  we  had  been  let  into 
the  fecret,  and  left  to  do  it  for  ourfeives. 

But  though  every  created  tiling  is  in  this  fenfe  a  myflery,  the 
word  myflery  cannot  be  applied  to  moral  truth,  any  more  than 
obfcurity  can  be  applied  to  light.  The  God  in  whom  we  believe  is 
a  God  of  moral  truth,  and  not  a  God  of  myilery  or  obfcuritv. 
Myllery  is  the  antagoniil  of  truth.  It  is  a  fog  of  human  invention, 
that  obfcures  truth  and  reprefents  it  in  diltortion.  Truth  never 
envelopes  /{/>^ in  myflery ;  and  the  myflery  in  which  it  is  at  any  time 
enveloped,  is  the  work  of  its  antagoniil,  and  never  of  itfelf. 

Religion,  therefore,  being  the  belief  of  a  God,  and  the  pradice 
®f  moral  truth,  cannot  have  connexion  with  myflery.  ^  The  beli-^f 


4S  ?AINE*s    WORKS. 

of  a  Godi  (o  far  from  having  any.  thing  of  myftery  in  it,  is  ci  all 
beliefs  the  moll  eafy,  becaufe  it  arifes  to  us,  as  is  before  obferved, 
out  of  neceffity.  And  the  pra6lice  of  moral  truth,  or  in  other 
words,  a  pra6lical  imitation  of  the  moral  goodnefs  of  God,  is  no 
other  than  ourafting  toward-s  each  other,  as  he  afts  benignly  towards 
all.  We  cannoty^r-T;^'  God  in  the  manner  we  ferve  thofe  who  cannot 
do  without  fuch  fervice ;  and,  therefore,  the  only  idea  we  can  have 
of  ferving  God,  is  that  of  contributing  to  the  happinefs  of  the 
living  creation  that  God  has  m.ide.  This  cannot  be  done  by  retiring 
ourfelves  from  the  fociety  of  the  world,  and  fpending  a  reclufe  life 
in  feifilh  devotion. 

The  very  nature  and  defign  of  religion,  if  I  may  fo  exprefs  it, 
prove,  even  to  demonilration,  that  it  mull  be  free  from  every  thing 
of  myftery,  and  unincumbered  with  every  thing  that  is  myfterious. 
Religion,  confidered  as  a  duty,  is  incumbent  upon  every  living  foul 
alike,  and  therefsre  muft  be  on  a  level  to  the  underftanding  and 
comprehenlion  of  all.  Man  does  not  learn  religion  as  he  learns  the 
fecrets  and  myfteries  of  a  trade.  He  learns  the  theory  of  religion 
by  reflection.  It  arifes  out  of  the  allien  of  his  own  mind  upon  the 
things  which  he  fees,  or  upon  what  he  may  happen  to  hear  or  to 
read,  and  the  prafhice  joins  itfelf  thereto. 

V/hen  men,  whethev  from  policy  or  pious  fraud,  fet  up  fyftems  of 
religion  incompatible  with  the  word  or  works  of  God  in  the  creation, 
and  not  only  above,  but  repugnant  to  human  comprehenfion,  they 
were  under  the  neceffity  of  inventing,  or  adopting,  a  word  that 
fhould  ferve  as  a  bar  to  all  quellions,  enquiries,  and  fpeculations. 
The  word  myftery  anfwered  this  purpofe ;  and  thus  it  has  happened, 
that  religion,  which,  in  itfelf,  is  without  myftery,  has  been  cor- 
rupted into  a  fog  of  myfteries. 

As  myfiery  anfwered  all  general  purpofes,  miracle  followed  as  an 
occafional  auxiliary.  The  former  ferved  to  bev/iider  the  mind,  the 
latter  to  puzzle  the  fenfes.  The  one  v/as  the  lingo;  the  other  the 
legerdemain. 

But  before  going  further  into  this  fubjefl,  it  will  be  proper  to 
enquire  what  is  to  be  underftood  by  a  miracle. 

In  the  fame  fenfe  that  every  thing  may  be  faid  to  be  a  myftery, 
fo  aifo  may  it  be  faid,  that  every  thing  is  a  miracle,  and  that  no 
one  thing  is  a  greater  miracle  than  another.  The  elephant,  though 
larger,  is  not  a  greater  miracle  than  a  mite ;  nor  a  mountain  a  greater 
miracle  than  an  atom.  To  an  Almighty  power,  it  is  no  more 
difficult  to  make  the  one  than  the  other;  and  no  more  difficult  to 


Part  I.  AGE     OF    REASON. 


49 


make  a  million  of  worlds  than  to  make  one.  Every  thing  therefore 
is  a  miracle  in  one  fenfe;  whilll,  in  the  other  fenfc,  there  is  no 
fuch  thing  as  a  miracle.  It  is  a  miracle  when  compared  to  our  power, 
and  to  our  comprehenfion.  It  is  not  a  miracle  compared  to  the 
power  that  performs  it.  But  as  nothing  in  this  defcription  conveys 
the  idea  that  is  affixed  to  the  word  miracle,  it  is  necelfary  to  carry 
the  enquiry  further. 

Mankind  have  conceived  to  themfelves  certain  laws  by  which, 
what  they  call  nature,  is  fuppofed  to  ad ;  and  that  a  miracle  is 
fomething  contrary  to  the  operation  and  eiFeft  of  thofe  laws.  But 
unlefs  we  know  the  v/hole  extent  of  thofe  laws,  and  of  what  are 
commonly  called  the  powers  of  nature,  we  are  not  able  to  judge 
whether  any  thing  that  may  appear  to  us  wonderful,  or  miraculous, 
be  within,  or  be  beyond,  or  be  contrary  to  her  natural  pov/er  of 
adiinp;. 

The  afcenfion  of  a  man  feveral  miles  high  into  the  air,  would 
have  every  thing  in  it  that  conftitutes  the  idea  of  a  miracle,  if  it 
were  not  known  that  a  fpecies  of  air  can  be  generated  feveral  times 
lighter  than  the  common  atmofpheric  air,  and  yet  pol^efs  elafticity 
enough  to  prevent  the  balloon,   in  which  that  light  air  is  encicfed, 
from  being  comprefled  into  as  many  times  lefs  bulk,  by  the  common 
air  that  fuirrounds  it.     In  like  manner,  extrafting  flalhes  or  fparks 
of  fire  from  the  human  body,  as  viiibly  as  from  a  fteei  flruck  with 
a  flint,  and  cauling  iron  or  fteel  to  move  without  any  vifible  ag-ent 
would  alfo  give  the  idea  of  a  miracle,  if  we  were  not  acquainted 
with  eleftricity  and  magnetifm :  fo  alfo  would  many  other  experiments 
in  natural  phiiofophy,  to  thofe  who  are  not  acquainted  with  the 
fubjed.     The  relloring  perfons  to  life,  who  are  to  appearance  dead 
as  is  pra(ftifcd  upon  drowned  perfons,  would  alfo  be  a  miracle    if  it 
were  not  knov/n  that   animation  is   capable   of  being  fu 'bended 
without  beine  extindt. 

Befides  thcfe,  there  arc  performances  by  flight  of  hand,  and  by 
perfons  acting  in  concert,  that  have  a  miraculous  appearance,  which 
when  known,  are  thought  nothing  of.  And  befides  thefe,  there  are 
mechanical  and  optical  deceptions.  There  is  now  an  exhibition  in 
Paris  of  ghofts  or  fpeftres,  which,  though  it  is  not  impofed  upon 
the  fpedators  as  a  fa6t,  has  an  aftonifhing  appearance.  As  therefore 
we  know  not  the  extent  to  which  either  nature  or  art  can  go,  there 
is  no  pofitive  criterion  to  determine  what  a  miracle  is ;  and  mankind, 
in  giving  credit  to  appearances,  under  the  idea  of  their  beinp' 
miracles,  are  fubjed  to  be  continually  impofed  upon. 

*G 


50  PAINE's     WORKS. 

Since  then  appeara-nces  are  fo  capable  of  deceiving,  and  thinp-s 
not  real  have  a  ftrong  refemblance  to  things  that  are,  nothing  can  be 
more  inconfiftent  than  to  fuppofe,  that  the  Almighty  would  make  ufe 
of  means,  fach  as  are  called  miracles,  that  would  fubjedl  the  perfon 
who  performed  them  to  the  fufpicion  of  being  an  impoftor,  and  the 
perfons  who  related  them  to  be  fufpefted  of  lying,  and  the  doftrine 
intended  to  be  fupported  thereby,  to  be  fufpeded  as  a  fabulous 
invention. 

Of  all  the  modes  of  evidence  that  ever  were  invented  to  obtain 
beliet  to  any  fyflcm  or  opinion,  to  which  the  name  of  religion 
has  been  given,  that  of  miracle y  however  fuccefsful  the  impofition 
may  have  bten,  is  the  mofl  inconfiftent.  For,  in  the  firft  place, 
whenever  recourfe  is  had  to  lliow,  for  the  purpofe  of  procuring  that 
belief,  (for  a  miracle,  under  any  idea  of  the  word,  is  a  Ihow)  it 
implies  a  lamenefs  or  weaknefs  in  the  doftrine  that  is  preached. 
And,  in  the  fecond  place,  it  is  degrading  the  Almighty  into  the 
cliarader  of  a  fnov/.man,  playing  tricks  to  amufe  and  make  the 
people  ftarc  and  v\'onder.  It  is  alfo  the  moft  equivocal  fort  of 
evidence  that  can  be  fet  up;  for  the  belief  is  not  to  depend  upon  the 
thing  called  a  m.iracle,  but  upon  the  credit  of  the  reporter,  who  fays 
that  Le  faw  it ;  and  therefore  the  thing,  were  it  true,  would  have 
no  better  chance  of  being  believed  than  if  it  were  a  lie.' 

Suppofe  I  were  to  f:iy,  that  when  I  fat  down  to  write  this  book, 
a  hand  prefented  itfelf  in  the  air,  took  up  the  pen,  and  wrote  every 
word  that  is  herein  written ;  would  any  body  believe  me  ?  Certainly 
they  would  not.  ■  Would  they  believe  me  a  whit  the  more  if  the 
thing  had  been  a  fad  ?  Certainly  they  would  not.  Since  then,  a 
real  mirack,  were  it  to  happen,  would  be  fubjedl  to  the  fame  fate  as 
the  falihood,  the  inconfiflency  becomes  the  greater,  of  fuppoling  the 
Almighty  would  make  ufe  of  means  that  would  not  anfwer  the 
purpofe  for  which  they  were  intended,  even  if  they  were  real. 

If  we  are  to  fuppofe  a  miracle  to  be  fomething  fo  entirely  out  of 
the  courfe  of  what  is  called  nature,  that  (he  muft  go  out  of  that 
courfe  to  accomplifli  it ;  and  we  fee  an  account  given  of  fuch  miracle 
by  the  perfon  who  faid  he  fayv  it,  it  raifes  a  queftion  in  the  mind 
very  eafjy  decided,  which  is, — Is  it  more  probable  that  nature 
^  "  .(ihould  go  out  of  her  courfe,  or  that  a  man  fiiould  tell  a  lie  ?  We 
M.^  i^-(have  never  fecn,  in  oar  time,  nature  go  out  of  .her  courfe,  but  we 
*-^*^'  have  good  reafon  to  believe  that  millions  of  lies  have  been  told  in 
^\  the  fame  time ;   it  is   therefore  at  leaft  millions  to  one,    that  the 


;  reporter  of  a  miracle  tells  a  lie. 


Part  I.  A  G  E    O  F    R  K  A  S  O  N,  51 

The  ftory  of  the  whale  fwallowing  Jonah,  though  a  whale  is^^^. 
large  enough  to  do  it,  borders  greatly  on  the  marvellous;  but  itiw^* 
would  have  approached  nearer  to  the  idea  of  a  miracle,  if  Jonah  ha^^  ^^ 
fwallowed  the  whale.  In  this  cafe,  v/hich  may  ferve  for  all  cafes  o.*/fc^<^ 
miracles,  the  matter  would  decide  itfelf  as  before  ftated,  namelv,'^*''^ 
Is  it  more  probable  that  a  man  ftiould  have  fwallowed  a  whale,  ox  ^  ^ 
told  a  lie  ?  '^^ 

But  fupponng  that   Jonah  had  really  fwallowed  the  whale,  and  ^ 

gone  with  it  in  his  belly  to  Nineveh,  and  to  convince  the  people  ^-^.^^ 
that  it  was  true,  have  call  it  up  in  their  ^i^wt  of  the  full  length  ^^>^ 
and  fize  of  a  whale,  would  tliev  not  have  believed  him  to  have  A^^ 
been  the  devil  inftead  of  a  prophet  ?  or,  if  the  whale  had  carried  ^.^ 
Jonah  to  Nineveh,  and  caft  him  up  in  the  fame  public  manner,  =''»*<»x. 
would  they  not  have  believed  the  whale  to  have  been  the  devil,  and 
Jonah  one  of  his   imps  ? 

The  moft  extraordinary  of  all  the  things  called  miracles,  related 
in  the  New  Teftament,  is  that  of  the  devil  flying  away  with 
Jefus  Chrift,  and  carrjdng  him  up  to  the  top  of  a  high  mountain  > 
and  to  the  top  of  the  higheil  pinnacle  of  the  temple,  and  fnewing 
him  and  promifmg  to  him  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  nvorld.  How 
happened  it  that  he  did  not  difcover  America  ?  or  is  it  only  with 
kingdoms    that  his  footy  highnefs  has  any  intereft  ? 

I  have  too  much  refpecl  for  the  moral  charader  of  Chriflj  to 
believe  that  he  told  this  v/hale  of  a  miracle  himfelf ;  neither  is  it 
eafy  to  account  for  what  purpofe  it  could  have  been  fabricated, 
unlefs  it  were  to  impofe  upon  the  connoifTeurs  of  miracles,  as  is 
fometimespra(flifed  upon  the  connoiffeurs  of  Queen  Anne's  farthings, 
and  colledors  of  relics  and  antiquities ;  or  to  render  the  belief  of 
miracles  ridiculous,  by  out-^doing  miracle,  as  Don  Quixottc  out-did 
chivalry ;  or  to  embarrafs  the  belief  of  miracles  by  making  it 
doubtful  by  what  power,  whether  of  God,  or  of  the  devil,  any 
thing  called  a  miracle  v/as  performed.  It  requires,  however,  a 
great  deal  of  faith  in  the  devil  to  believe  this  miracle. 

In  every  point  of  view,  in  whfch  thcfe  things  called  miracles 
can  be  placed  and  confidered,  the  reality  of  them  is  improbable, 
and  their  exiilence  unnectlfary.  They  would  not,  as  before  obferved, 
anfwer  any  ufefal  purpofe,  even  if  they  were  true  ;  for  it  is  more 
difficult  to  obtain  belief  to  a  miracle,  than  to  a  principle  evidently 
moral,  without  any  miracle.  Moral  principle  fpeaks  univerfall) 
for  itfelf.  Miracle  could  be  but  a  thing  of  the  moment,  and  feei 
but  by  a  few  ;  after  this,  it  requires  a  transfer  of  faith,  from  God 

G  2 


52  PAINE's     WORK  So 

to  man,  to  believe  a  miracle  upon  man's  report.  Inftead  therefore 
of  admitticg  the  recitals  of  rniracles,  as  evidence  of  any  fydem  of 
religion  being  true,  they  ought  to  be  conudered  as  fymptoms  of  its 
being  tabuious.  It  is  neceffary  to  the  fall  and  upright  charafter  of  \ 
truth,  that  it  rejects  the  crutch  ;  and  it  is  coniiitent  with  the 
character  of  fiible,  to  feek  the  aid  that  truth  rejeds.  Thus  much 
for  myfcery  and  miracle. 

As  myftery  and  miracle  took  charge  of  the  paft  and  prefent, 
prophefy  took  charge  of  the  future,  and  rounded  the  tenies  of 
fai;h.  It  was  not  fuiHcient  to  know  what  had  been  done,  but  what 
would  be  done.  The  fuppofed  prophet  v/as  the  fuppofed  hifcorian 
of  times  to  come  :  and  if  he  happened,  in  ihoocing  v/ith  a  long  bow 
of  a  thoufand  years,  to  firike  within  a  rhoufand  miles  of  a  mark, 
the  ingenuity  of  poilerity  could  make  it  point  plank  :  and  if  he 
happened  to  be  diredly  wrong,  it  was  only  to  fuppofe,  as  in  the 
cafe  of  Jonah  and  Nineveh,  tiiat  God  had  repented  himfelf,  and 
changed  his  mind.  What  a  fooi  do  fabulous  fyitems  of  religion 
make  of  man ! 

It  has  been  (hewn  in  a  former  part  of  this  work,  that  the 
original  meaning  of  the  words  prophet  and  prcphefying  has  been 
changed,  and  that  a  prophet,  in  the  fenfe  the  word  is  now  ufed, 
is  a  creature  of  modern  indention  ;  and  it  is  owing  to  this  change  in 
the  meaning  of  the  words,  Ithat  the  flights  and  metaphors  of  the 
Jewifn  poet'-,  and  phrafes  and  exprellicns  now  rendered  obfcure  by 
our  not  being  acquainted  with  the  local  circumfbances  to  which  they 
applied  At  the  time  they  v/ereufed,  have  been  erected  into  prophefies, 
and  made  to  bend  to  explanations  at  the  will  and  whimfical  conceits 
of  feclaries,  expounders,  and  commentators.  Every  thing  unintel- 
ligible was  prophetical,  and  every  thing  infignificant  was  typical. 
A  blunder  would  have  ferved  for  a  prophecy  ;  and  a  diih clout 
for  a  type. 

If  by  a  prophet  we  are  to  fuppofe  a  man,  to  whom  the  Almighty 
communicated  fome  event  that  would  take  place  in  future,  either 
there  were  fuch  men,  or  there  were  not.  If  there  were,  it  is 
confiilcnt  to  believe  that  the  event,  fo  communicated,  would  be 
told  in  terms  that  could  be  underil:ocd ;  and  not  related  in  fuch  a 
loofe  and  obfcure  manner  as  to  be  out  of  the  comprehenfion  of  thofe  1 
that  heard  it,  and  fo  equivocal  as  to  fit  almoft  any  circumilance 
that  might  happen  afterv/ards.  It  is  conceiving  very  irreverently, 
of  the  Almighty,  to  fuppofe  he  would  deal  in  this  jefting  manner 
-♦vitli  mankind:  yet  all  the  things  called  prophefies,  in  the  book 
called  the  iiiDie,  come  under  this  defcription. 


Part  I.  A  G  E    O  F    R  E  A  S  O  N.  53 

But  it  is  with  prophefy  as  it  is  with  miracle.     It  could  not  anf\ver 

^^U-^^.  the  purpofe  even  if  it  were  real.     Thofe  to  whom  a  prophefy  ihouid 

f^J!^      be  toid,  could  not    tell  whether  the  man  prophefied  or  lied,  or 

r^f  /■    whether  it  had  been  revealed  to  him,  or  whether  he  conceited  it : 

.     '  ^  -  ^^^  •£  jj^g  j-j^- j^g  ji^^t  jje  prophefied,  or  pretended  to  prophefy,  fnould 

^^       happen,  or  fomething  like  it,   among  the  multitude  of  things  that 

'*.  '^'1      arf*  daily  happening,  nobody  could  again  know  whether  he  foreknew 

;'  it,  or  guefled  at  it,  or  whether  it   was   accidental.     A  prophet, 

therefore,  is  a  charader  ufelefs  and  unnecelTary ;  and  the  fafe  fide  of 

the  cafe  is,  to  guard  againil  being  impofed  upon,  by  not  giving 

credit  to  fuch  relations. 

Upon  the  whole,  myftcry,  miracle,  and  prophefy,  are  appendages 
that  belong  to  fabulous  and  not  to  true  religion.  They  are  the  means 
by  which  fo  many  Lo  heres!  and  Lo  theres/  have  been  fpread  about  the 
world,  and  religion  been  inade  into  a  trjide.  The  fuccefs  of  otie. 
impoftor  gave  encouragement  to  another,  and  the  quieting-  falvo  of 
doln^fome  good  by  keeping  u^  a.  pious  fraud y  proted;^  them  fio.n 
remoi'fe.       "     ^  *"  .       .      ': 

^  Having  n?jJs%  extended  the  fubj.e(fl  to  a  greater  length  thaq,  I  firll 

^intended,   i  fliall  bring'it  to  a  ciofcj^  by  abilradling  a  j^Sfhmary  from 
the  whole.  -      ^  .       -■ 

Firft,  That  the  idea  or  belief  or  ^  word  of  God  e:;^ifting  in  print, 
or  in  writing,  or  in  fpeecji^  is  inconfillent  in  ^itfcii  foV  the  reafons 
already  aiTigned.  Thefe  reafons,  among  many  others,  are  the  v/a.nt 
of  ah  univerfal  languag;c;  the  mutability  of  languap^e;  the  errors 
to  which  tranilations  are  fubjejft ;  Lthe  pojubility  of  totally  fupprellinjr- 
(_fuch  a  word;  the  probability  of  altering  it,  or  of  fabricatino-  the 
whole,  and  impofrng  it  upon  the  world. 

Secondly,  That  the  creation  we  behold  is  the  real  and  ever  exifting 
word  of  God,  in  which  we  cannot  be  deceived.     It  proclaimeth  I\is 
power,  it  dcmonftrates  his   wifdom,  it  manifefts    his  goodnefs  and 
I     beneficence. 

Tliirdly,  That  the  moral  duty  of  man  confifts  in  imitating  the 
moral  goodnefs  and  beneficence  of  God  manifefted  in  the  creation 
towards  all  his  creatures.  That  feeing,  as  we  daily  do,  the  goodnefs 
of  God  to  all  men,  it  is  an  example  calling  upon  all  men  to  pradife 
the  fame  towards  each  other;  and  confequently  that  every  thin?^  of 
perfeccition  and  revenge,  between  man  and  man,  and  every  thin^  of 
cruelty  to  animals,  is  a  violation  of  moral  duty. 

1  tro  (ble  not  myfelf  about  the  manner  of  future  exiftence.  I 
content  my felf  with  believing,  even  topofitiveconvidion,  that  the 


54  PAINE's    WORKS. 

power  that  gave  me  exiftence  is  able  to  continue  it,  in  any  form  and  \ 
manner  he  pleafes,  either  with  or  without  this  body ;  and  it  appears 
more  probable  to  me  that  Ifiiall  continue  to  exiil  hereafter,  than  that 
I  fhould  have  had  exiftence,  as  I  now  have,  before  that  exiftence 
began. 

It  is  certain  that,  in  one  point,  all  nations  of  the  earth,  and  all 
religions  agree.  All  believe  in  a  God.  The  things  in  which  they 
difagree,  are  the  redundancies  annexed  to  that  belief;  and  therefore,. 
if  ever  an  univerfal  religion  iliould  prevail,  it  will  not  be  believing 
any  thing  new,  but  in  gettipg  rid  of  redundancies,  and  believing  as 
man  believed  at  firft.     Adam,  if  ever  there  were  fuch  a  man,  waa  • 

created  a  Deift ;  but  in  the  mean  time  let  every  man  follow,  as  he 
has  a  right  to  do,  the  religion  and  the  worfhip  he  prefers. 


-^ 


T    H    E 


AGE    OF    REASON 


PART   THE   SECOND. 


BEING      AN 


INVESTIGATION 


o  t 


TRUE    AND    OF    FABULOUS 


THEOLOGY. 


By    THOMAS    PAINE. 


AUTHOR    OF    THE    WORKS    ENTITLED,      COMMON    S2NSE, RIGHTi 

9?  MAN,    PARTS  FIRST    AND   SECOND, THE    FIRST    PART    OF 

THE      AGE    OF     REASON, AND     DISSERTATIONS     Olf 

FIRST     PRINCIPLES    OF    GOVERJ^MENT, 


MwwaiiairfitiMiitt«rj^Sttaufjga^Bsaifea^ij  Jl'.^i!:^^)a^^ 


PREFACE. 

T 

A  H  A  V  E  mentioned  in  the  foirmer  part  of  the  Age  of  ReafcA^ 
that  it  had  long  been  my  intention  to  publifh  my  thoughts  upon 
religion,  but  that  I  had  originally  referved  it  to  a  later  period  in  life, 
intending  it  to  be  the  laft  work  I  fhould  undertake.  The  circum- 
ftances,  however,  that  exifted  in  France  in  the  latter  end  of  the 
year  1795,  determined  me  to  delay  it  no  longer.  The  juft  and 
humane  principles  of  the  revolution,  which  philofophy  had  firit 
difFufed,  had  been  departed  from.  The  idea,  always  dangerous  to 
fociety  as  it  is  derogatory  to  the  Almighty,  that  priefts  could  forgive 
fins,  though  it  feemed  to  exift  no  longer,  had  blunted  the  feelings 
of  humanity,  and  calloufly  prepared  men  for  the  commiinon  of  all 
crimes.  The  intolerant  fpirit  of  church  perfecution  had  transferred 
itfelf  into  politics;  the  tribunals,  ftiled  revolutionary,  fupplied  the 
place  of  an  inquifition,  and  the  guillotine  of  the  flake.  I  faw  many 
bf  my  moft  intimate  friends  dellroyed ;  others  daily  carried  to 
prifon ;  and  I  had  reafon  to  believe,  and  had  alfo  intimations  given 
me,  that  the  fame  danger  was  approaching  myfelf. 

Under  thefe  difadvantages  I  began  the  former  part  of  the  Age  of 
Reafon;  I  had,    bcfides,  neither   bible  nor   teftament   to  refer    to, 
^      though  I  was  writing  againft    both;    nor  could   I   procure   any; 
}       notwithflanding  which,    I  have  produced  a  work  that  no  bible 
believer,   though  writing  at  his  eafe,  and  with  a  library  of  church 
1^     books  about  him,  can  refute./    Towards  the  latter  end  of  December 
of  that  year,   a  motion  was  made  and  carried  to  exclude  foreigners 
from  the  convention.     There  were  but  two,  Anarcharfis  Cloots  and 
myfelf;  and  I  faw  I   was  particularly  pointed  at  by  Bourdon  de 
rOife,  in  his  fpeech  on  that  motion.     Conceiving,  after  this,  that 
I  had  but  a  few  days  of  liberty,   I  fat  down  and  brought  the  work 
to  a  clofe  as  fpeedily  as  poffible;  and  I  had  not  finifhed  it  more  than 
fix  hours,  in  the  ftate  it  has  fmce  appeared,  before  a  guard  came, 
about  three  in  the  morning,  with  an  order  figned  by  the  two  com* 
inittees  of  public  fafety  andfurety  general,  for  putting  me  in  arrefta- 
tion  as  a  foreigner,  and  conveying  me  to  the  prifon  of  the  Luxem- 


58  PAINE's     WORKS,. 

bourg.  I  contrived,  in  my  way  there,  to  call  en/' Joel  Baf low ;  and 
I  put  the  manufcript  of  the  work  into  his  hands,  as  more  fate  than 
in  my  polTelTion  in  prifon :  and  not  knowing  what  might  be  the  fate 
in  France,  either  of  the  writer  or  the  work,  I  add  relied  it  to  the 
protedion  of  the  citizens  of  the  United  States. 

It  is  juftice  that  I  {i^y,  that  the  guard  who  executed  this  order, 
and  the  interpreter  to  the  committee  of  general  furety,  who  accom- 
panied them  to  examine  my  papers,  treated  me  not  only  with 
civility,  but  with  rcfpec^.  The  keeper  of  the  Luxembourg,  Benoit, 
a  man  of  a  good  heart,  fliewedto  mc  every  friendfliip  in  his  power, 
as  did  alfo  all  his  family,  while  he  continued  in  that  llaticn.  He 
was  removed  from  it,  put  into  arreftation,  and  carried  before  the 
tribunal  upon  a  malignant  accufation,  but  acquitted. 

After  I  had  been  in  the  Luxembour-{>-  about  three  weeks,  the 
Americans,  then  in  Paris,  went  in  a  body  to  the  convention,  to 
reclaim  mc  as  their  countryman  and  friend  ;  but  were  anfwered  by 
the  prefident,  Vadier,  who  was  alfo  prefident  of  the  committee  of 
furety  general,  and  had  figned  the  order  for  my  arreftation,  that  I 
was  born  in  England.  I  heard  no  more  after  this  from  any  perfon 
out  of  the  walls  of  the  prifon,  till  the  fall  of  Robefpierre  on  the 
9th  of  Thermidor,   27th  July,  1794. 

About  two  months  before  this  event,  I  was  feized  with  a  fever 
that  in  its  progrefs  had  every  fymptom  of  becoming  mortal,  and 
from  the  effeds  of  vv^hich  I  am  not  recovered.  It  was  then  that  I 
remembered  with  renewed  fatisfadion,  and  congratulated  myfelf 
moft  fmcereiy,  on  having  written  the  former  part  of  the  ^ge  of 
Rtajon.  I  had  then  but  little  expGftation  of  furviving,  and  thofe 
about  me  had  lefs.  I  knov/,  therefore,  by  experience,  the  confci-  xl 
entious  trial  of  my  ov/n  principles^  fp    ^      oL 

I  was  then  with  three  chamber  comrades,  Jofeph  Vanhuel£  of  h^*^^^ 
Bruges,  Charles  Baftini  and  Michael  Robyns  of  Louvain.  The'^Jl^^^^  ' 
unceafng  and  anxious  attention  of  thefe  three  friends  to  me  by  night  ,^,....^^^1^ 
and  by  day,  I  remember  with  gratitude,  and  mention  with  pleafure.-^^—^ 
It  happened  that  a  phyfician  (Dr.  Grah.am)  and  a  furgeon  (Mr.  f-^^^ 
Bond),  part  of  the  fuite  of  General  O'Hara,  were  then  in  the  "^^ -  / 
Luxembourg.  I  aik  not  myfelf,  whether  it  will  be  convenient  to_-ci/.,/ci ':<> 
them,  as  men  under  the  Engliih  government,  that  I  exprefs  to  them  ^"^^  ^  '-'- 
my  thanks,  but  I  fliould  reproach  myfelf  if  I  did  not,  and  alfo  to  '^T^^^^ 
the  phyfician  of  the  Luxembourg,  Dr.  Markoiki.  ^  tUeJft 

I  have  fomc  reafon  to  believe,  becaufe  I  cannot  difcover  2ny  other,  [U.^'tZiU- 
that  this  iiincfs  preferved  me  in  exiftence.     Among  the  papers  of  ''^^  ^ 

i,^.   /c<._.£^y.^.>*<^    ^    OC^^  f^-t^f^     (^  JLrcU.     Xtl^     >».l^,    ^U>^    ^^     "^'^-^     ^L^^ 


PREFACE. 


59 


Robefpierre  that  were  examined  and  reported  upon  to  the  convention 
by  a  committee  of  depities,  is  a  note  in  the  hand-writing  of 
Robefpierre,  in  the  following  words : 

**  Demander  que  Thomas  Paine  foit  "  Demand  that  Thomas  Paine 
**  decreted'accufationpour  I'intertt  "be  decreed  of  accufation, 
"  I'Amerique  autant  que  de  lia  "  for  the  intercfl:  of  America 
*'  France."  '<  as  well  as  of  France." 

From  what  caufe  it  was  that  the  intention  was  not  put  in  execu- 
tion, I  know  not,  and  cannot  inform  myfelf ;  and  therefore  I  afcribe 
it  to  impolTibility,  on  account  of  that  illnefs. 

The  convention,  to  repair  as  much  as  lay  in  their  power  the 
injuftice  I  had  fuftained,  invited  me  publicly  and  unanimouHy  to 
return  into  the  convention,  and  which  I  accepted,  to  Hiew  I  could 
bear  an  injury  without  permitting  it  to  injure  my  princip^si  or  mv 
difpofition.  Jt  is  not  becaufe  right  principles  have  been  violated 
that  they  are  to  be  abandoned. 

I  have  feen,  fmce  I  have  been  at  liberty,  feveral  publications 
written,  fome  in  America  and  fome  in  England,  as  anfwers  to  the 
former  part  of  the  Jge  of  Ren/on.  If  the  authors  of  thefe  can 
amufe  themfdves  by  fo  doing,  I  fhall  not  interrupt  them.  They 
may  write  againft  the  work  and  againft  me  as  much  a«  they  pleafe. 
They  do  me  more  fervice  than  they  intend,  and  I  can  have  no 
objeflion  that  they  write  on.  They  will  find,  however,  by  this 
fecond  part,  without  its  being  written  as  an  anfwer  to  them,  that 
P'    they  rauft  return  to  their  work,  and  fpin  their  cobweb  over  again. 

The  firft  is  brufhed  away  by  accident. 
,/  They  will  now  find  that  I   have  furniihed  myfelf  with  a  Bible 

."  and  Teftament ;  and  I  can  fay  alfo  that  I  have  found  them  to  be 
much  worfe  books  than  I  conceived.  If  I  have  erred  in  any  thing, 
in  the  former  part  of  the  Age  of  Reafov,  it  has  been  by  fpeaking 
better  of  fome  parts  than  they  deferved. 

I  obferve  that  all  my  opponents  refort,  more  or  lefs,  to  what 
they  call  fcripture  evidence  and  bible  authority,  to  help  them  out. 
They  are  fo  little  mafters  of  the  fubjeft,  as  to  confound  a  difpute 
about  authenticity,  with  a  difpute  about  doftrines.  I  will 
hov/ever,  put  them  right,  that  if  they  fhould  be  difpofed  to  write 
any  more,  they  may  know  how  to  begin. 

THOMAS  PAINE. 
Oclober,  1795. 


/I 

4. 


(/ 


I^    tA/'LlL'  /aCfi^'^   h-^rv*^   £^^^trL^.£y   aL^/:^t*.-'-tZ  ^  /l^,^-<-^  C*^^-4i»^ ^    a-,^ 

-^i^/v^-cJX^   fVtc^u--^  K^ix-cA-c-  ^^-c-*-«-  exJUiy  uHi^u^    Uu-.  4-*^  c/UjlU^  ^ 

u^^  ^^  l^^>^->y^AcJL  t,  ^^^^^^^  /  iJ^^^J^z^  y^<»-^  -^^-t.  .^^^^  *-  — < 
=Xit-,.^-»^  (l<xf^  /^^t^^^  c^/<-^ ,  ^  ,uyf^//i^^^  ^^--"-^  ^t^^<^  /h^(A 


^k^t^  ^  ^vw:^    c^^U.  /^^    ^^   /^Ul^    /^-^    ^  'rr^<-^a^ 


rTrsS3»'-8S!St3?3;9'95n ' 


THE 


AGE       OF       REASON. 


PART        IL 


It  has  often  been  faid,  that  any  thing  may  be  proved  from  the 
bible  ;  but  before  any  thing  can  be  admitted  as  proved  from  the 
bible,  the  bible  itfelf  muft  be  proved  to  be  true  ;  for  if  tli,e  bible 
be  not  true,  or  the  truth  of  it  be  doubtful,  it  ceafes  to  have  authority, 
ind  cannot  be  admitted  as  proof  of  any  thing. 

It  has  been  the  practice  of  all  Chriftian  commentators  on  the 
bible,  and  of  all  Chriftian  priefts  and  preachers,  to  impofe  tha 
bible  on  the  world  as  a  mafs  of  truth,  and  as  the  word  of  God. 
They  have  difputed  and  wrangled,  and  have  anathematifed  each 
other  about  the  fuppofeable  meaning  of  particular  parts  and  paffages 
therein  :  one  has  faid  and  infifted  that  fuch  a  paflage  meant  fuch  a 
thing;  another  that  it  meant  direftly  the  contrary  ;  and  a  third, 
that  it  meant  neither  one  nor  the  other,  but  fomethinp-  different 
from  both  ;   and  this  they  have  called  underjiandmg  the  Bible. 

It  has  happened  that  all  the  anfwers  that  I  have  feen  to  the  former 
part  of  The  Age  of  Rea/on,  have  been  written  by  priefts  ;  and  thefe 
pious  men,  like  their  predeceflbrs,  contend  and  wrangle,  and /,!;?^c'/-,'?^/,7/i 
the  bible.  Each  underftands  it  diiferently,  but  each  underftands  it 
beft,  and  they  have  agreed  in  nothing,  but  in  telling  their  readers 
that  Thomas  Paine  underftands  it  not. 

Now,  inftead  of  wafting  their  time  aad  heating  themfelves  in 
fraftipus  difputations  about  dodrlnal  points  drawn  from  the  bible, 
thefe  men  ought  to  kno^,  and  if  they  do  not,  it  is  civility  to  inform 
them,  that  the  firft  thing  to  be  undeyfiood\%,  whether  there  is  fufficient 
authority  for  believing  the  bible  to  be  the  word  of  God,  or  whether 
there  is  not? 


¥ 


6i  PAINE's     WOP.  KS. 


..*M 


V  ^  V  There  are  matters  in  that  book,  faid  to  be  done  by  the  ex'prefs 

command  of  God^   that  are  as  Ihocking  to  humanity,  and  to  every 

^■i  '^    i#      idea  wc  have  of  moral  juftice,  as  any  thing  dene  by  Robefpierre,  by 

|\^     vj      Carrier,  by  Joieph  JLebon,  in  france  ;  by  the  Englifii  government 

''•'  'X  M      in  the  £alU indies;  or  by  any  other  aiTuiTin  in  m.odern  times.    When 

^      we  read  in  the  books  afcribed  to  IViofes,  Jcfhua,   ^'c.   that  they  (the 

»  ilraeiiies)  came  by  Health   upon  whole  nations  of  people,   who,  as 

^    ^      the  hiltory  itfelf  lliews,   had  given  them  no  ofrence,   that  they  put 

•J       1       all  thofe  natiom  to  the  Jkvord — that  they  /pared  netiher  age  nor  infancy 

^       .'  I     ' — that  they  utterly  dtfroyed  me7i,   n/jomen,  a?td  children — that  they  left 

^      \l    ?iot  a  fold  to  breathe, — exprefhons  that  are  repeated  over    and  over 

^     \\    ^o^'^"  ^'"^  '^''^^^"^  books,   and  that  too  wit.h  exulting  ferocity,   are  we 

^    j^'    fare  thefe  things  are  t'aits^   Are   we  fure  that   the  Creator  of  mian 

"^    commiflioned  theie  things  to  be  done  ?  Are  we  iwit,  that  the  books 

thac  tell  us  fo  were  written  by  his  authority  ? 
^       It  is  not  the  antiquity  oi  a  tale  that  is  any  evidence  of  its  truth, 
^  on  the  contrary,   it  is  a  fymptom  of  its  being  fabulous  ;  for  the  more 

■^     -v     ancient  any  hiil:ory  pretends  to  be,   the  more  it  has  the  refemblance 
^  \  ^4      of  fable.     The  origin  oi  every  nation  is  buried  in  fiibulous  tradition, 
V^   "^^     and  that  of  the  Jews  is  as  much  to  be  fufpedied  as  any  other, 
(T\    v-  ^       1  o  charge  the  commilTion  of  things  upon  the  Almighty,  which 
V^^^    in  their  own  nature,  and  by  every  rale  of  moral  juilice,   are  crimes, 
fc  V     (vj     3-S  aii  affaiiination  is,  and  moreefpccialiy  the  afTaffination  of  infants, 
'T    f,     is   a   matter  of  ferious   concern.     The   bible   tells   us,   that    thofe 
^N     ^\      3  {{diRiYdtioni,  \v  ric  douQ  hy  thtexpref s  command  of  God.     To   believe, 
^Jr   ^v      t;iierefore,   the  bible  to  be  true,  we  muft  imbehe've  all  our  belief  in 
\  '^  %^    ^he  moral  juftice  of  God ;  for  wherein  could  crying  or  fmiling  infants 
V   "^       o!^ei^d  ?  And  to  read  the  bible  without  horror,  we  muft  undo  every 
vHf.  r  \^    thh^.g  that  is  ti^nder,  fympathifuig,  and  benevolent  in  the  heart  of 
^s^^V'^man.     Speaking  for  myfelf,  if  I   had  no  other  evidence   that  the 
\j  "^       bible  is  fabnlous,   than  the  facrifice  I  mull  make  to  believe  it  to  be 
\  '^^  ^    true,   that  alone  would  be  fufHcient  to  determ.ine  my  choice. 

\         Bat  in  addition  to  all  the  moral  evidence  againft  the  bible,  I  will, 
N.     in  the  progrefs  of  tliis  work,  produce  fuch  other  evidence  as  even  a 
^     prieft  cannot  deny,  and  fhew  from  that  evidence,  that  the  bible  is 
not  entitled  to  credit  as  being  the  word  of  God. 

But  before  I  proceed  to  this  examination,  I  will  Ihew  whereip 
the  bibk  differs  from  all  other  ancient  writings  with  refpeft  to  the 
Tiature  of  the  evidence  neceffary  to  eftablilh  its  authenticity  ;    and 


^^ 


\ 


^  j    N     tins  fsthe  mxore  proper  to  be  done,  becaufe  the  advocates  of  the 
i>j;  1  Jf      Sv:^\^  in  their  anfwejrs   to  the  former  part    of  The  Age  of  Reafon^ 


pAR-r*  II.  AGE    O  F    R  E  A  S  O  N.  5^ 

undertake  to  fay,  and  they  put  fome  ftrefs  thereon,  that  the  authen- 
ticity of  the  bible  is  as  well  eilabliflied  as  that  of  any  other  ancient 
book  :  as  if  our  belief  of  the  one  could  become  any  rule  for  our 
belief  of  tlie  other. 

I  know,  however,  bat  of  one  ancient  book  that  authoritatively 
challenges  univerfal  confent  and  belief,  and  that  is  Euclid's  Ehmmts 
of  GcGmetrj  ;*  and  the  reafon  is,  becaufe  it  is  a  book  of  felf-evidcnt 
demonftration,  entirely  independent  of  its  author,  and  of  every 
thing  relating  ta  time,  plac^sand  circumftance.  The  matters  con- 
tained in  that  book  would  have  the  fame  authority  they  now  have, 
had  they  been  written  by  any  other  perfon,  or  had  the  v/ork  been 
anonymous,  or  I;|^  the  author  never  been  known  ;  for  the  identical 
certainty  of  wlti^vas  the  author,  makes  no  part  of  our  belief  of 
the  matters  contained  in  the  book. 

But  it  is  quite  otherwife  with  refpedl  to  the  books  afcribed  to- 
Mofes,  to  Jod'iua,  to  Samuel,  &c.  Thofe :  are  books  of  tejiimony-, 
and  they  teltify  of  things  naturally  incredible  ;  and  therefore  the 
whole  of  our  belief,  as  to  the  authenticity  of  thofe  books,  refts, 
in  the  firft  place,  upon  the  certainty  that  they  v/ere  v/ritten  by 
Moles,  Jolhua,  and  Samu^  j  fecondly,  upon  the  credit  we  give 
to  their  teflimony.  Vi^e  miiy  believe  the  firftf  that  is,  we  may 
believe  the  certainty  of  the  authorlhip,  and  yet  not  the  teftimony;. 
\vi  the  fame  manner,  that  we  may  believe  that  a  cert^v  perfon  gave 
evidence  u^on  a  cafe,  and  yet  not  believe  the  evidence  that  he  gave,., 
But  if  itfnouid  be  found  th.'t  the  books  afcribed  to  IVIoies,  Jofliua, 
and  Samuel,  were  not  written  by  Mofes,  Jofhua,and  Samuel,  every" 
part  of  the  authority  and  authenticity  of  thofe  books  is  gone  at 
once,  for  there  can  be  no  fuch  thing  as  forged  or  invented  ^eilimony^ 
neither  can  there  be  anonymous  teitim:  ny,  more  efpeciaDy  as  to 
things  naturally  iricredibie,  fuch  as  that  of  talking  with  God  face 
to  f^xce,  or  that  of  the  fun  and  moon  ftanding  Hill  at  the  command- 
of  a  man. 

The  greateft  part  of  the  otlier  ancient  books  are  works  of  genius ; 
of  which  kind  are  thcfe  afcribed  to  Homer,  to  Plato,  to  Ariftotle^ 
to  Demofthenes,  to  Cicero,  &c.  Kerc  agair^the  author  is  not  an 
effential  in  the  credit  we  give  to  isny  of  thofe  works;  for  as  works 
of  genius   they  would  have  the  fame  merit  they  hare  now,  were 

*  Euclid^  according  to  chronological  hijhrjy  lived  three  hundred 
years  before  Chr'.Jt,  and  M>out  one  hundred  bffo>e  Archimedes.  He 
-'jas  oj-  the  ctty  of  AUxandria,   hi,  E^ypt. 


'64  MAINE'S     WORKS* 

they  anonymous.     Nobody  believes  the  Trojan  ftory,  as  related  by 
Homer,   to  be  true;  for  it  is  the  poet  only  that  is  admired_,  and  the 
merit  cf  the  poet  will  remain,  though  the^fltory  be  fabulous.     But  if 
we  diibelieve  the  matters  related  by  the  bible  authors,  Mofes  for 
inilance,    as   we   difbelieve   the   things  related  by  Homer,    there 
remains  nothing  of  Mofes,   in  our  eftimation,  but  an  impoftor.     As 
to  the   ancient   hiftorians,  from  Herodotus   to  Tacitus,   we  credit 
them  as  far  as  they  relate  things  probable   and  credible,  and  no 
further;   for  if  we  do,   we  muft    believe   the  two  miracles  which 
Tacitus  relates  were  performed  by  Vefpalian,   that  of  curing  a  lame 
man,   and  a  blind  mnn,   in  juft  the  fame  manner  as  the  fame  things 
are  told  of  Jefus  Chrift  by  his  hiflorians.     We  muft  alfo  believe  the 
miracle  cited  by  Jofephus,   that  of-  the  fea  of  Pamphilia  opening  to 
let  Alexander  and  his   army  pafs,  as  is  related  of  the  Red  Sea  in 
Exodus.     Thefe  miracles    are  quite  as  well  authenticated  as  the 
bible  miracles,  and  yet  we  do  not  believe  them.     Confequently  the 
degree  of  evidence  neceffary  to  eUabliih  our  belief  of  things  naturally 
incredible,   whether  in  the  bible  or  elfewhcre,  is  far  greater  than 
that  which  obtains  our  belief  to  natural  and  probable  things ;   and 
therefore  the  advocates  for  the  bible  have  no  claim  to  our  belief  of 
the  bible,  becaufe  that  we  believe   things  dated  in  other  ancient 
%rritings ;   fince    we  believe  the  things  ftated  in  thofe  writings,   no 
further  than  tj^ty  are  probable  and  credible,  or  becaufe  they   are, 
felf-evidcnt,  like  Euclid,  or  admire  them  becaufe  they  are  elegant, 
like  Homer,  or  approve  them  becaufe  they  are  fedate,  like  Plato,  or 
judicious,  like  Ariftotle. 

Having  premifed  thofe  things,  I  proceed  to  examine  the  authen- 
ticity of  the  bible,  and  I  begin  with  what  are  called  the  five  books 
©■f  Mofes ;  Genejisy  Exodus^  Le^viticus^  hi  timbers  j  and  D€Uterono?ny» 
My  intention  is  to  fhew,  that  thofe  books  are  fpurious,  and  that 
Mofes  is  not  the  author  of  them ;  and  dill  further,  that  they  were 
not  written  in  the  time  of  Mofes,  nor  till  feveral  hundred  years 
afterwards;  that  they  are  no  other  than  an  attempted  hiftory  of  the 
life  of  Mofes,  and  of  the  times  in  which  he  is  faid  to'have  lived  5 
and  alfo  of  the  times  p«ior  thereto,  written  by  fome  very  ignorant 
and  ftupid  pretenders  to  authorlhip,  feveral  hundred  years  after  the 
death  of  Mofes;  as  men  now%vrite  hiftories  of  things  that  happened, 
or  are  fuppofed  to  have  happened,  feveral  hundred,  or  feveral 
thoufand  years  ago. 

The  evidence  that  I  ihall  produce  in  this  cafe,  is  from  the  books 
rhemfelves ;  and  I  will  confine  myfelf  to  this  evidence  only.     Were 


f 

c5 


;?ART  IL  A  G  E    O  F    R  E  A  S  O  N. 


<f 


I  to  refer  for  proofs  to  any  of  the  ancient  authors,  whom  the  advocates 
of  the  bible  call  prophane  authors,  they  would  controvert  that 
authority  as  I  controvert  theirs.  I  will  therefore  come  on  their  own 
ground,  and  oppofe  them  with  their  own  weapon,  the  bible.  < 

/        In  the  iirft  place,  there  is  no  afiirmative  evidence  that  Mofes  is    A 
^     the  author  of  thofe  books ;  and  that  he  is  the  author,   is  altogether      \ 
an  unfounded  opinion  got  abroad  nobody  knows  how.     The  ftyle  and 
manner  in  which  thofe  books  ate  written,  give  no  room  to  believe, 
\       or  even  to  fuppofe,  they  were  written  by  Mofes ;  for  it  is  altogether  \  ^ 
X        the  ftyle  and   manner  of  another  perfon  fpeaking  of  Mofes.     In     ^ 
J        Exodus,   Leviticus,   and  Numbers   (for   every  thing  in    Genefis  is  .  ^ 
*!*        prior  to  the  time  of  Mofes,  and  not  the  leaft  allufion  is  made  to   \ 
4   ^         him  therein)  the  whole,  I  fay,  of  thefe  books  is  [n  the  third  perfon^^    J 
1^  '       it  is  always,  t^e  Lord f aid  unto  Mofes y  or  Mofes  /aid  mito  the  Lord  ;      y 
\          vr  Mofes  [aid  unto  the  people <f   nr  the  people  fa\d  unto  Mofes  ;    and    this     •^ 
\      is  the  ^yXz  and  manner  that  hiftorians  ufe  in  fpeaking  of  the  perfons      *? 
whofe  lives  and  aftions  they   are  writing.      It  may  be  faid  that  a      .!^ 
man  may  fpeak  of  himfelf  in  the  third  perfon,  and  therefore  it  may     \^ 
be  fuppofed  that  Mofes  did  ;   but  fuppofition  proves  nothing;   andH  \ 
if  the  advocates  for  the  belief  that  Mofes  wrote  thofe  books  himfelf,     '^ 
^        have  nothing  better  to  advance  than  fuppofition,  they  may  as  well    *  ^ 
V       be  filent.  ,  Vs 

^  J        But  granting  the  grammatical   right  that  Mofes  might   fpeak  of 
himfelf  in  the  third  perfon,  becaufe  any  man  might  fpeak  of  himfelf  •  \ 
in  that   manner,   it  cannot  be  admitted  as   a  fad   in  thofe  books,     ^^ 
that  it  is  Mofes  who  fpeaks,  without  rendering  Mofes  truly  ridicu-     ^ 
\  ^        lous  and  abfurd — For  example.  Numb.  chap.  xii.  v.  3.   "  Noiu  the    jh^ 
v4         man  Mofes  <Vi}as\^^ijA^^KMbove  all  the  men  "xuhich  ivere  on  the  face    A 
J^        ff  the  earth."  Tf  Moles  laid  this  of  himfelf,  inftead  of  being  the^Vi 
^^       meekeft  of  men,  he  was  one   of  the   moil    vain  and    arrogant    of  ^ 
VJ       coxcombs ;  and  the  advocates  for  thofe  books  may  now  take  which      v 
*   V        fide  they  pleafe,  for  both  fides  are  againft  them.     If  Mofes  was  not 
i\      the  author,   the  books  are  without  authority  ;   and  if  he  was   the 
'        author,  the  author  is  without  credit ;  becaufe   to  boaft  of  weeknefsj, 

is   the  reverfe  of  meeknefs,  and  is  a  lie  in  fentiment.  i 

In  Deuteronomy  the   ftyle  and  manner  of  writing   marks  more 

evidently  than  in  the  former  books  that  Mofes   is  not  the  writer. 

'J       The  manner  here  ufed  is  dramatical.     The  writer  opens  the  fubjedl 

^       by  a  fhort  introdudlory  difcourfc,   and  then  introduces  Mofes  as  in 

the  afl  of  fpeaking,  and  when  he  has  made  Tvlofes  iinifh  his  harangue, 

he   (the  v/iiter)    refumes    his  own  part  and   fpeaks    till  he  brings 

*I 


66  FAINE's     WORKS.  ., 

rvIoR'S   forward  again,   and  at  lad  clores  the  fcene  v/ith  an  account 
of  the  death,  funeral,  and  charader  cf  Mofes. 

This  interchange  of  fpeakers  occurs  four  times  in  this  bcok* 
From  the  firft  verfe  of  the  firft  chapter  to  the  (nd  of  the  fi/th  vcrfe  if 
it  is  the  writer  who  fpeaks,  he  tnen  introduces  Mofcs  as  in  the  ad 
of  making  his  harangue,  and  this  continues  to  the  end  of  the  40th 
verfc  of  the  fourth  chapter.  Kerc  the  writer  drops  Mofes  and 
fpeaks  hiflorically  of  what  was  done  in  confequence  cf  what  Mofes, 
when  living,  is  fuppofed  to  have  faid,  and  which  the  writer  had 
dramatically  rcliearfed.  '^ 

The  writer  opens  the  fuhje(5l  again  in  the  firft  verfe  cf  the  fifth 
chspter,  though  it  is  only  by  faying  that  Mofes  called  the  people 
^■f  Ifrael  together  j    he  then  introduces  Mofes  as  before,  and  con- 
tinues him  as    in  the  a<ft   of   fpeaking    to    the    end    of  the    26th  v 
chapter.     He   does   the  fame    thing  at  the  beginning  of  the  27th 
chapter,  and  continues  Mofes,    as   in   the   ad  cf  fpeaking,    to  the 
end  of  the  28th  chapter.     At  the  29th  chapter  the  writer  Ipeaks       ^ 
again  through  the  whole  of  the  firft  vcrfe,  and  the  firfl  line  of  the 
fecond  verfe,    where    he    introduces  Mofes  for  the    laft  time,   and        *' 
continues   him  as  in   the  ad  of  fpeaking  to  the  end   of  the    23'-^ 
chapter. 

The  writer  having    now  finiihed    the  rehearfal    on   the  part  of 
Mofes,  comes  forward   and   fpeaks  through  the  whole   of  the  lail 
chapter.     Ke  begins  by   telling  the  reader  that  Mofes  went  up  to 
the  top    of  Pifgah,   that  he  faw  from   thence  the  land  which  (the         ^' 
writer  fays)   had    been  promifed  to  Abraham,    Ifaac  and  Jacob-r- 
that  he,    Mofes,    died  there  in  the  land  of  Moab — that  he  buried        %f 
him  in   a  valley   in  the  land  of  Moab,  J^yyt^.^lJiLa^nian   knoweth         ■ 
of  his  fepulchre  unto  this  day  ;  that  is,  unto  the  tnnc  in  which  the 
writer   lived  who  wrote  the  book  of  Deuteronomy.     The  writer 
then  tells,  that  Mofes  was  one  hundred  and  ten  years  of  age  when 
he  died — that    his    eye  was  not  dim  nor  his  natural  force   abated  ; 
and  he  concludes  by   faying,    that  there    arofe  not    a  prophet  J:?!ce 
in  Ifrael  like  unto  Mofes,  whom,  fays  this  anonymous  writer^  the 
Lord  knew  face  to  face. 

Having  thus  Ihewn,  as  far  as  grammatical  evidence  applies,  th:U 
Mofes  was  not  the  writer  of  thofe  books,  I  will,  after  ranking  a 
few  obfervations  on  the  inconfillencies  of  the  writer  of  the  book  of 
Deuteronomy,  proceed  to  Ihew,  from  the  hillorical  and  chronological 
evidence  contained  in  thofe  books,  that  Mofes  ivas  not^  becaufe 
he   could  no:  be^   the   v/riter    of    them ;     a»d   confequently,    that 


Part  II.  A  G  E     O  F     R  E  A  S  O  Ns  67 

there  is  no  authority  for  believing,  that  the  inhuman  and  horrid 
butcheries  of  men,  women  and  children,  told  of  in  thofe  books, 
were  done,  as  thofe  books  fay  they  were,  at  the  commp.nd  of  God, 
It  is  a  duty  incumbent  on  every  true  deiil,  that  he  vindicatf.-s 
the  moral  iufticc  of  God  againft  the  calumnies  of  the  bible.    ■■. 

The  writer  of  the  book  of  Deuteronomy,  whoever  he  was,  for 
it  is  an  anonymous  work,  is  obfcure,  and  aifo  cor.tradi-:lox-y  wiih 
himfelf  in  the  account  he  has  given  of  Mcfes.  '  ^.^ 

After  telling  that  Mofes  went  to  the  top  of  Pifgah  (and  it  docs 
not  appear  from  any  account  that  he  ev5r  came  down  again)  he  tells 
us  that  Mofes  died  iJheye  in  the  land  of  Moab,  and  that  /v  buried 
him  in  a  valley  in  the  land  of  Moab  :  but  as  there  is  no  antecedent 
to  the  pronoun  he,  there  is  no  knowing  who  the  .he  v^•as  that  did 
bury  him.  If  the  writer  meant  that  /?e  (God)  buried  him,  how 
Should  /v,  the  writer,  know  it,  or  why  ftiould  we  (the  rcadeis) 
believe  him,  fince  we  know  not  who  the  writer  was  that  tells  us 
fo ;  for  certainly  Mofes  could  not  himfelf  tell  where  he  was 
buried. 

The  ;vriter  alfo  tells  us,  that  no  man  knoweth  where  the  fepulchre 
of  Mofes  is  u/ito  this  day  J  meaning  the  time  in  which  this  writer 
lived,  how  then  fliould  he  know  that  Mofes  was  buried  in  a  \?A]zy 
i?i  the  land  of  Moab  ?  for  as  the  writer  lived  long  after  the  time  of 
Mofes,  as  is  evident  from  his  ufmg  the  expreiiion  wtto  this  day^ 
meaning  a  great  length  of  time  after  the  death  of  Mofes,  he  cer- 
tainly w'is  not  at  his  funeral.  And  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  impofTible 
that  Mofes  himfelf  could  fay,  that  no  man  kno-ojeth  -lukere  hh  fepulchre 
is  unto  this  day.  To  make  Mofes  the  fpeaker  v/ould  be  an  improve- 
ment on  the  play  of  a  child  that  hides  itfelf  and  cries,  nobody  can 
f.nd  me.     Nobody  can  find  Mcfes. 

This  writer  has  no  where  toid  us,  how  he  came  by  the  fpeeches 
that  he  has  put  into  the  mouth  of  .Mofes  to  fpeak,  and  therefore 
v/e  have  a  right  to  conclude,  that  he  cither  compofed  them  him/elf 
or  wrote  them  from  oral  tradition.  One  or  other  of  thefe  is  the 
more  probable,  fince  he  has  given,  in  the  fifth  chapter,  a  table  01 
commandments,  in  which  that  called  the  fourth  com:nandment  is 
diiTerent  from  the  fourth  commandment  in  the  twentieth  chapter  of 
Exodus.     In  that   of  Exodus,    the  reafori   eiven   for  kceninr^  the 

.  .  ,  "^  -to 

feventh  day  is,  becaufe  (fays  the  commandment]  God  made  the 
heavens  and  the  earth  in  fix  days,  and  relied  on  the  feventh  ;  but  in 
that  of  Deuteronomy,  the  rcafon  given  is,  that  it  was  the  day  on 
which  the  children  of  Ifraei  came  out  of  Egypt,  and  ikcrcjcre,  fiys 

I  2 


6«  PAINE'a    WORKS. 

this  commandment,  the  Lord  thy  God  commanded  thee  to  hep  the  fab- 
bath  day.  7"i6/,j  makes  no  mention  of  the  creation,  woxthat  of  the  coming 
out  of  Egypt.  There  are  alfo  many  things  given  as  laws  of  Mofes 
in  this  book,  that  are  not  to  be  found  in  any  of  the  other  books, 
among  which  is  that  inhuman  and  brutal  law,  ch.  xxi,  v.  1 8, 
19,  20,  21,  v/hich  authorifes  parents,  the  father,  and  the  mother, 
to  bring  their  own  children  to  have  them  ftoned  to  death,  for  what 
it  is  pieafed  to  call  ftubbornnefs.  But  priefts  have  always  been  fond 
of  preaching  up  Deuteronomy,  for  Deuteronomy  preaches  up  tithes ; 
and  it  is  from  this  book,  ch.  xxv,  v.  4,  they  have  taken  the  phrafc, 
and  applied  it  to  tithing,  that  thou  Joalt  not  muzzle  the  ox  ivhen  he 
treadeth  out  the  corn.  And  that  this  might  not  efcape  obfervation,  they 
have  noted  it  in  the  table  of  contents,  at  the  head  of  the  chapter, 
though  it  is  only  a  fmgle  verie  of  lefs  than  two  lines,  O  priefts  ! 
prieils !  ye  are  willing  to  be  compared  to  an  ox  for  the  fake  of 
tithes.  Though  it  is  impoilible  for  us  to  know  identically  who 
the  writer  of  Deuteronomy  was,  it  is  not  difficult  to  difcover  him 
pwfejjionally ,  that  he  was  fome  Jewiih  prieft,  who  lived,  as  I  fhall 
fhew  in  the  courfe  of  this  work,  at  leall  three  hundred  and  fifty 
years  after  the  time  of  Mofes. 

I  come  now  to  fpeakof  the  hiilorical  and  chronological  evidence. 
The  chronology  that  I  Hiall  ufe  is  the  bible  chronology,  for  I  mean  ■ 
not  to  go  out  of  the  bible  for  evidence  of  any  thing,  but  to  -make 
the  bible  itfelf  prove,  hiftorically,  and  chronologically,  that  Mofes 
is  not  the  author  of  the  books  afcribed  to  him.  It  is  therefore 
proper  that  I  inform  the  reader  (fuch  at  leaft  as  may  not  have  the 
opportunity  of  knowing  it)  that  in  the  larger  bibles,  and  alfo  in 
fome  fmaller  ones,there  is  a  feries  of  chronology  printed  in  the  margin 
of  every  page,  for  the  purpofe  of  Ihewing  how  long  the  hiilorical 
matters  ftated  in  each  page  happened,  or  are  fuppofed  to  have 
happened,  before  Chrift,  and  confequently  the  diftance  of  time 
between  one  hiftorical  circumftance  and  another. 

I  begin  with  the  book  of  Genefis. — In  the  14th  chapter  of 
Genefis,  the  writer  gives  an  account  of  Lot  being  taken  prifoner, 
in  a  battle  between  the  four  kings  againft  five,  and  carried  off; 
and  tliat  when  the  account  of  Lot  being  taken  came  to  Abraham, 
that  he  armed  all  his  houiliold,  and  marched  to  refcue  Lot  from  the 
captors  i  and  that  He  purfued  them  unto  Dan,  (Ver.    14.) 

To  fhew  in  what  manner  this  expreifion  of  purfuing  them  unto 
Dauy  applies  to  the  cafe  in  queftion,  I  will  refer  totwocircumftances, 
the  one   in  America,   the  other  in  France.     The  city  now  called 


Part  II.  A  G  E     O  F    R  E  A  S  O  N.,  69. 

New- York  in  America,  was  originally  New-Amfterdam  ;  and  the 
town  in  France  lately  called  Havre- Marat,  was  before  called  Havre- 
de^race,  New-Amfterdam  was  changed  to  New- York  in  the 
year  1664,  and  Havre-de-Grace  to  Havre-Marat  in  the  year  1793. 
Should,  therefore,  any  writing  be  found,  though  without  date,  in 
which  the  name  of  Neiv-7'ork  (hould  be  mentioned,  it  Would  be 
certain  evidence  that  fuch  a  writing  could  not  have  been  written 
before,  and  muft  have  been  written  after  New-Amfterdam  was 
changed  to  New. York,  and  confequently  not  till  after  the  year 
1 664,  or  at  leaft  during  the  courfe  of  that  year.  And  in  like 
manner  any  datelefs  writing,  with  the  name  of  Havre-Marat, 
would  be  certain  evidence  that  fuch  a  writing  muft  have  been 
written  after  Havre-de-Grace  became  Havre-Marat,  and  confe- 
quently not  till  after  the  year  1793,  or  at  leaft  during  the  courfe 
of  that  year. 

I  now  come  to  the  application  of  thofe  cafes,  and  to  fhew  that  there 
was  no  fuch  place  as  Dan  till  many  years  after  the  death  of  Mofes, 
and  confequently  that  Mofes  could  not  be  the  writer  of  the  book  of 
Geneiis  whore  this  account  of  purfuing  them  unto  Dan  is  given. 

The  place  that  is  called  Dan  ip  the  bible,  was  originally  a  town 
of  the  Gentiles  called  Laifh,  and  when  the  tribe  of  Dan  feizcd 
upon  this  town,  they  changed  its  name  to  Dan,  in  commemoration  of 
Dan,  who  was  the  father  of  that  tribe,  and  the  great  granifon  of 
Abraham, 

To  eftablilh  this  in  proof,  it  is  neceflary  to  refer  from  Gcncfis  to 
the  18th  chapter  of  the  book,  called  the  book  of  Judges.  It  is 
there  faid  (verfe  27),  that  they  (the  Danites)  ca7ne  unto  La'ijh  to  a 
people  that  njoere  quiet  ajid  fecurcy  and  they  /mote  them  iv'ith  the  edge 
0/ the  fuford  {tht  h'lhlc  is  filled  with  murder}  and  hur?ied  the  city 
nvith  Jire — and  they  built  a  city  (verfe  28)  and  dnjjelt  therein — and 
they  called  the  nam^  of  the  city  Dan,  after  the  name  of  Dan  thdr 
father,  houubett  the  ?iame  of  the  city  ^juas  La'ifh  at  the firfi. 

This  account  of  the  Danites  taking  poHeirion  of  Laifii  and 
changing  it  to  Dan,  is  placed  in  the  book  of  Judges  immediatdy 
■after  the  death  of  Sampfon.  The  death  of  Sampfon  is  faid  to  have 
happened  11 20  years  before  Chrift  ;  and  that  of  Mofes  1451  before 
Chrift  ;  and  therefore,  according  to  the  hiftorical  arrangement,  the 
place  was  not  called  Dan  till  331  years  after  the  death  of  Mofes. 

There  is  a  ftriking  confuiion  between  the  hiftorical  and  the 
chronological  arrangement  in  the  book  of  Judges.  The  five  laft 
chapters,  as  they  ftand  in  the  book,  17,  18,    19,  20,   21,  are  put 


70  PAINED     WORKS. 

chronologically  before  all  the  preceding  chapters.     They  are  iriide 

to  be  £8  years  before  the  i6th  chapter^  266  before  the   i -th — 24.^ 

before  the  13th — 195  before  the  9th — 90  before    the   4th — fend 

15  years  before  the  fird  chapter.     This   ih.ews  the  uncertain    and 

fabulous    ftate    of    the    bible.      According    to    the    chronological 

arrangement^  the  taking  of  Lnifh  and  giving  it  the  name  of  Dan, 

iz  made  to  be   twenty  ye^irs   sfter    the   death  of  Jofiiua,    who  was 

the  fucceffor  of  Mofes  ;   and  by  the  hidorical  order,  as  it  ftands  in 

the  book^  it   is  made  to  be  three  hundred  and   fix  years  after  the 

death   of  Joihua,    and  three , hundred  and   thirty-one    after    that 

cf  Mofes.     Ei2t  they  both  exclude   Mofes  from  bein?  the  writer 

cf  Genefis ;    becaufe,    according   to  cither   of  the  ilatements,  no 

fuch    place   as  Dan  exifled   in   the   time  of  Mofes  ;  and  therefore 

the  writer  cf  Geneiis  mufc  have  been  feme  perfon  that  lived  afte: 

the  town  of  Laifh  hid  the  name  of  Dan,   and  who  that  perfon  was 

nobody  knows,  and,  confequentiy  the  book  of  Genefis  h  anonymous 

and  without  authority. 

I  come  now  to  flate  another  point  of  hillorical  and  chronological 
evidence,  and  to  fhev/  therefrom,  as  in  the  preceding  cafe,  that 
Mofes  is  not  the  author  of  the  book  of  Geneiis. 

In  the  36th  chapter  of  Geneiis,  there  is  given  a  genealogy  of 
tr.^.  fons  and  dcfcendants  of  Efau,  v/ho  are  called  Edomites,  and 
alfo  a  lift  by  name  of  the  kings  of  Edom  ;  in  enumerating  of  which, 
it  is  faid,  verfe  31,  ^'  and  thefe  are  the  kings  that  reigned  in 
*^  Edom  before  there  reigned  any  ^^ng  o-ver  the  children  of  Ij'rael," 

Now,  were  any  datclefs  wriiing  to  be  found,  in  which,  fpeakii^ 
cf  any  pafl  events,  the  v%Titer  fnouidfay,  thefe  things  happened  before 
there  v/as  "wy  congrefs  in  America,  or  before  there  was  any  ccnvcn^ 
tion  in  France,  it  would  be  evidence  that  fuch  v/riting  could  not 
have  been  written  before,  and  could  only  be  written  after  there  was 
a  congrefs  in  America,  or  a  convention  in  France,  as  the  cafe  might 
be  ;  and  confequentiy  that  it  ccuid  not  be  written  by  any  perfon 
who  died  before  there  was  a  congrefs  in  the  one  country,  or  a  con- 
%-.cnticn  in  the  other. 

Nothing  is  more  frequent,  as  -veil  in  hillory  as  in  converfation, 
than  to  refer  to  a  faft  in  the  room  of  a  date.  It  is  mo(t  natural  fo  to 
do ;  firfl,  b'rxaufe  a  fad  fixes  itfelf  in  the  memory  better  than  a  date; 
fcccndlvj  becaufe  the  faft  includes  the  date,  and  fervcG  to  give  two 
ideas  at  once  ;  and  this  manner  of  fpeaking  by  circumllances, 
inipi'.es  as  pofitively  that  the  fadl  alluded  tots  pajty  as  if  it  %vas  fo 
expreffed.     V/lien  a   perfon,  in  fpeaking  upon   aiiy  matter,  fays, 


Part  1L  A  G  £     O  F     R  E  A  5  O  K.  'it 

it  was  bcP:re  1  was  married — cr  before  my  Ton  v/as  horn—or  before 
I  went  tc  i^.riierica — or  bc'forc  I  went  to  Fran.c,  it  is  abfoluteiy- 
underftood  and  intended  to  be  imderilood,  that  he  has  been  ir.arritxl^— 
that  he  has  had  a  fen — that  he  has  been  in  America,  or  been,  in 
France.  Lan;^uage  does  not  admit  of  u'.:ng  this  mode  of  expreluon 
in  any  other  fenfc  ,  znd  -.vhenever  fuch  an  exprclXon  is  found  any 
vvjierej  it  cin  only  be  undcrilood  in  thefenfe  in  which  only  it  cculd 
have  been  ufed. 

'The  pafi'.ge,  therefore,  that  I  have  quoted — "  that  thefe  arc 
the  kings  that  reigned  in  Edom  before  there  reigned  ajry  king  over 
the  children  of  Ifrael,"  could  only  have  been  v/ritten  after  the  firlb 
king  began  to  reign  over  them  ;  and  confequentiy  that  the  book  of 
Gcnefis,  fo  far  from  having  been  written  by  Mofes,  could  not  have 
.  been  written  till  the  time  of  Saul  at  leaft.  This  h  the  pcfitivc 
feiife  of  the  paiTage,  but  the  exprelTion  a>'?j  king,  implies  more  king*-. 
than  one,  at  leall  it  implies  two  ;  and  this  will  cany  it  tc  the  rime; 
of  D:.vidj  and  if  taken  in  a  general  fciA'i^i  it  carries  itfelf  through 
all  times  of  the  Jevifh  monarchy. 

Had  we  met  with  this  ver^e  in  any  part  of  the  bible  that  profcJTcd 
to  have  been  written  after  kgngs  began  to  reign  in  Ifrrel,  it  woula 
have  been  ImpoiTibie  not  to  have  ken  the  application  of  it.  I-t 
happens  then  that  thic  is  the  cr.fe.  The  two  books  of  Chronicles,. 
which  gvve  a  hiftory  of  all  the  kings  of  Ifrc-el,  are  propjfedly^  a^ 
well  as  in  fact,  written  after  the  Jewiili  monarchy  began,  and  this 
verfe  that  I  have  quoted,  and  all  the  remaining  verfes  of  the  ^6rh 
chapter  of  Gcnefis,  are,  vvord  for  word,  in  the  firi^  chapter  of 
Chronicles,  beginning  at  the  43d  verfe. 

It  was  with  coniiftency  that  the  writer  of  the  Chronicles  could 
fay,  as  he  has  faid,  i  Chron.  ch.  i.  ver.  43,  Theje  are  the  kin?^  tha: 
reigned  t7i  Edom  before  there  ye^gKid  any  k:7ig  c'oer  the  children  of 
Jfrael ;  becaufe  he  was  golrig  to  give,  and  has  given,  a  lift  of  the 
kings  that  had  reigned  in  Ifraei,  But  as  it  is  impoffibie  that  the 
fame  exprefTion  could  have  been  ufed  before  that  period,  it  is  ac 
certain  as  any  thing  can  be  proved  from  hiftoiical  hmguage,  that 
this  part  of  Genefis  is  taken  from  Chronicles,  and  that  Genefis  is 
aot  fo  old  as  Chronicles  ;  and  probably  not  fo  old  as  the  book  of 
Homer,  or  as  jiEfop's  Fables ;  admitting  Horner  to  have  been,  as 
the  t:ibles  of  chronology  {late,  cotemporary  with  David  or  Solomon, 
and  ^ibp  ro  have  lived  about  the  end  of  the  Jewifli  monarchy. 

Take  av/ay  from  Generis  the  belief  that  Mofes  was  the   author, 
on    v/hich  only  the   Itrrjnge  belief  that  it  i-;  the  word  of  God  has 


72  PAINE's    WORKS. 

ftood,  and  there  remains  nothing  of  Genefis  but  an  anonymous 
book  of  llories,  fables,  and  traditionary  or  invented  abfurdities,  or 
of  downright  lies.  .vThe  ftorv  of  Eve  and  the  ferpenty  and  c£ 
Noah  and  his  ark,  drops  to  a  level  with  the  Arabian  talesy  without 
the  merit  of  being  entertaining  ;  and  the  account  of  men  living  to 
eight  and  nine  hundred  years,  becomes  as  fabulous  as  the  immor- 
tality of  the  giants  of  the  mythology. 

Eefides,  the  charader  of  Mofes,  as  ftatcd  in  the  bible,  is  the 
mofl  horrid  that  can  be  imagined.  If  thofe  accounts  be  true,  he 
was  the  wretch  that  firil  began  and  carried  on  wars  on  the  fcore, 
or  on  the  pretence  of  religion  ;  and  under  that  mafk,  or  that  infatu- 
ation, committed  the  moft  unexampled  atrocities  that  are  to  be 
found  in  the  hiftory  of  any  nation,  of  which  I  will  ftate  only  oae 
inftance. 

When  the  Jewilb  army  returned  from  one  of  their  plundering  and 
murdering  excurfions,  the  account  goes  on  as  follows,  Numbers, 
chap,  xxxi,  ver.  13. 

"  And  Mofes  and  Eleazer  the  prieft,  and  all  the  princes  of  the 
"  congregation,  went  forth  to  meet  them  without  the  camp. — 
"  And  Mofes  was  ivroth  with  the  officers  of  the  hoft,  with  the 
"  captains  over  thoufands,  and  captains  over  hundreds,  which 
**  came  from  the  battle. — And  Mofes  faid  unto  them,  Ha've ye  fa^ed 
**  all  the  njoomen  al'i've  P — Behold  thefe  caufcd  the  children  of 
"  Ifrael,  through  the  counfel  of  Balaam,  to  commit  trefpafs  againft 
*'  the  Lord  in  the  matter  of  Peor,  and  there  was  a  plague  among 
**  the  congregation  of  the  Lord. — Now,  therefore,  kill  e^very  male 
**  amo7ig  the  little  ones,  and  kill  e'very  <vjQman  that  hath  knonxin  a  man 
"  hy  lying  njo'ith  him. — But  all  the  ^omen-children  that  hath  vot 
"  kno<wn  a  man  by  lying  iv'ith  h'lm^  keep  alt-ve  foryour/el'ves,'* 

Among  the  deteftable  villains  that  in  any  period  of  the  world 
have  difgraced  the  name  of  man,  it  is  impoflible  to  find  a  greater 
than  Mofes,  if  this  account  be  true.  Here  is  an  order  to  butcher 
the  boys,  to  maffacre  the  mothers,  and  debauch  the  daughters.     ^ 

Let  any  mother  put  herfelf  in  the  fituation  of  thofe  mothers  : — 
one  child  murdered — another  deftined  to  violation,  and  herfelf  in  the 
hands  of  an  executioner  ;  let  any  daughter  put  herfelf  in  the  fituation 
of  thofe  daughters,  deftincd  as  prey  to  the  murderers  of  a  mother 
and  a  brother,  and  what  will  be  their  feelings  ?  It  is  in  vain  that 
we  attempt  to  impofe  upon  nature,  for  nature  will  have  her 
courfe,  and  the  religion  that  tortures  all  her  focial  ties  is  a  falfe 
religion. 


Part  II.  A  G  E    O  F    R  £  A  S  O  N. 


73 


After  tills  deteftable  order,  follows  an  account  of  the  plunder 
taken,  and  the  manner  of  dividing  it  ;  and  here  it  is  that  the  pro- 
pjianenefs  of  pricftly  hypocrify  increafes  the  catalcoue  of  crimes — 
verfe  37, — ^^  And  the  Lord's  tribute  oi  the  fiieop  were  iix  hundred 
'*  and  threefcore  and  fifteen  ; — and  the  beeves  was  thirty  and  fix 
'^  thoufand,  of  which  the  Lord's  tribute  was  threefcore  and  twelve — 
^^  and  the  afTes  were  thirty  thoufand,  of  which  the  Lord's  tribute 
"  was  threefcore  and  one — and  the  perfons  were  fixteen  thoufand, 
"  of  which  the  Lord's  tribute  v/as  thirty  and  two."  In  (hort,  the 
matters  contained  in  this  chapter,  as  well  as  in  many  other  parts  of 
the  bible,  are  too  horrid  for  humanity  to  read,  or  for  decency  to 
hear;  for  it  appears  from  the  35th  verfe  of  this  chapter,  that  the 
number  of  women-children  configned  to  debauchery  by  the  order  of 
Mofes,  was  thirty-two  thoufand. 

People  in  general  know  not  what  wickednefs  there  is  in  this 
pretended  word  of  God.  Brought  up  in  habits  of  fuperlHtion, 
they  take  it  for  granted,  that  the  bible  is  true,  and  that  it  is  good. 
They  permit  themfelves  not  to  doubt  of  it  ;  and  they  carry  the 
ideas  they  form  of  the  benevolence  of  the  Almighty,  to  the  book 
which  they  have  been  taught  to  believe  was  written  by  his  authority. 
Good  heavens,  it  is  quite  another  thing  !  It  is  a  book  of  lies, 
wickednefs,  and  blafphemy  ;  for  what  can  be  greater  blafphemy 
than  to  afcribe  the  wickednefs  of  man  to  the  orders  of  the 
Almi"-htv. 

But  to  return  to  my  fubje*5l,  that  of  fhewing  that  Mofes  is  not  the 
author  of  the  books  afcribcd  to  him,  and  that  the  bible  is  fpurious. 
The  two  inftances  I  have  already  given  would  be  fufficient,  without 
any  additional  evidence,  to  invalidate  the  authenticity  of  ?.Vi.y 
book  that  pretended  to  be  four  or  five  hundred  years  more  ancient 
than  the  matters  it  fpeaks  of,  or  refers  to,  as  fads  ;  for  in  the  cafe 
of  pjirJuDig  thern  unto  Dan^  and  of  the  kings  that  re'icrned  over  the 
chiLircn  of  Ijraely  not  even  the  fiimfy  pretence  of  prophecy  can  be 
pleaded.  The  exprefTions  are  in  the  preter-tenfe,  and  it  would 
be  downright  idiotifm  to  fay,  that  a  man  could  prophefy  in  the 
preter-tenfe. 

But  there  are  many  other  pafTages  fcattered  throughout  thofe 
books,  that  unite  in  the  fame  point  of  evidence.  It  is  faid  in 
Exodus  (another  of  thfi  books  afcribed  to  Mofes),  chap,  xvi,  v.  ^^  : 
*^  And  the  children  of  Ifrael  did  eat  manna  unt'd  they  came  to  a  land 
"  inhabited ;  they  did  eat  manna  tmt'il thej  came  unto  the  borders  cfths 
'^   la'id  of  Canr:{in,''^ 

♦K 


74  PAINE's     WORKS. 

Whether  the  children  of  Ifrael  eat  manna  or  not,  or  what  manna 
v/as,  or  v/hether  it  was  any  thing  more  thgn  a  kind  of  fungus^  cr 
fmall  mufnroom,  or  other  vegetable  fubilance,  common  to  that  pat| 
of  the  country,  makes  no  part  of  my  argiiment.  All  that  I  mean 
to  Ihev/  is,  that  it  is  not  Mofes  that  could  writse  this  account,  becaufe 
the  account  extends  itfelf  beyond  the  life-time  of  Mofes.  Mofes, 
according  to  trie  bible  (but  it  is  fuch  a  book  of  lies  and  contradic- 
tions, there  is  no  knowing  which  part  to  believe,  or  whetl^er  any) 
died  in  the  wildernefs,  and  never  cam.e  upon  the  borders  of  the  land 
of  Canaan,  and  confequently  it  could  not  be  he  that  faid  what  the 
children  of  Ifrael  did,  or  what  they  eat  when  they  came  there. 
This  account  of  eating  manna,  which  they  tell  us  was  written  by 
Mofes,  extends  itfelf  to  the  time  of  Jolhua,  the  fucceifor  of  Mofes, 
as  appears  by  the  account  given  in  the  bock  of  Jofhua  after  the 
children  of  Ii"rael  had  palfed  the  river  Jordan,  and  came  into  the 
bor4trs  of  the  land  of  Canaan.  Jofhua, 'chap,  v,  ver.  12.  "  And 
"  the  manna  ceafed  on  the  viorro^oj  after  they  had  eaten  of  the  old  corn 
^^  of  the  land;  neither  had  the  children  of  Ifrael  manna  any  more, 
"   but  they  did  eat  of  the  fruit  of  the  land  of  Canaan  that  year," 

But  a  more  remarkable  inftance  than  this  occurs  in  Deuteronomy, 
which,  v/hile  it  fhev/s  that  Mofes  could  not  be  the  writer  oi  that 
book,  fhews  alfo  the  fabulous  notions  that  prevailed  at  that  time 
about  giants.  In  the  third  chapter  of  Deuteronomy,  among  the 
conquefts  faid  to  be  made  by  Mofes,  is  an  account  of  the  taking  of 
Og,  king  of  Bafan,  verfe  /  fe.  "  For  only  Og,  king  of  Bafan, 
"  remained  of  the  race  of  giants.  Eehold  his  bedftead  was  a  bedflead 
'*  of  iron  ;  is  it  not  in  Rahhath  of  the  children  of  Ammon  r  Nine 
''.cubits  was  the  length  thereof,  and  four  cubits  the  breadth  of  it 
*'  after  the  cubit  of  a  m,an."  A  cubit  is  i  foot  9  388-1000 
inches.  The  length,  therefore,  of  the  bed  was  16  feet  4  inches, 
and  the  breadth  7  feet  4  inches.  Thus  much  for  this  giant's  bed. 
Now  for  the  hiftorical  part,  which  though  the  evidence  is  not  fo 
direft  and  pofitive  as  in  the  former  cafes,  it  is,  neverthelefs,  very 
prefumabie  and  corroborating  evidence,  and  is  better  than  the  hcfi 
etidcnce  on  the  contrary  fide. 

The  writer,  by  way  of  proving  the  exigence  of  this  giant, 
refers  to  his  bed,  as  to  an  ancient  relic y  and  fays,  is  it  not  in 
Rahhath  (or  Rabbah)  of  the  children  of  Ammon  ?  meaning,  that 
it  is ;  for  fuch  is  frequently  the  bible  method  of  affirming  a  thing. 
But  it  could  not  be  Mofes  that  faid  this,  becaufe  Mofes  could  know 
nc  thing  about  Rabbah,  nor  of  what  was  in  it,     Rabbah  was  not  a 


Part  II.  AGE     OF     REASON.  75 

city  belonging  to  this  giant  king,  nor  was  it  one  of  the  cities  that 
Mofes  took.  The  knowledge,  therefore,  that  this  bed  was  at 
Rabbah,  and  of  the  particulars  of  its  dimenfions,  muil  be  referred 
to  the  time  when  Rabbah  was  taken,  and  this  was  not  till  four 
hundred  years  after  the  death  of  Mofes  ;  for  which  fee  2  Sam. 
ch.  xii,  ver.  z6,  "And  Joab  (David'e  general)  fought  againil 
**  Rabbah  of  the  children  of  Ammoyiy  and  took  the  royal  fity,"   &c. 

As  I  am  not  undertaking  to  point  out  all  the  contradidions  in 
time,  place,  and  circumftance,  that  abound  in  the  books  afcribed 
to  Mofes,  and  which  prove  to  demonftration,  that  thofe  books 
could  not  be  written  by  Mofes,  nor  in  the  time  of  Mofes,  I  proceed 
to  the  book  of  Jofliua  ;  and  to  Ihcw  that  Jofhua  is  not  the  author 
of  that  book,  and  that  it  is  anonymous  and  without  authority. 
The  evidence  I  fliall  produce  is  contained  in  the  book  itfelf.  I  will 
not  go  out  of  the  bible  for  proof  againil  the  fuppolcd  authenticity 
of  the  bible.     Falfe  teilimony  is  always  good  againil  itfelf. 

Joihua,  according  to  the  liril  chapter  of  Jofhua,  was  the  immediate 
fucceffor  of  Mofes.  He  was  moreover  a  military  mrn,  which  Mofes 
was  not ;  and  he  continued  as  chief  of  the  people  of  Ifrael  twenty- 
five  years,  that  is,  from  the  time  that  Mofes  died,  which,  according 
to  the  bible  chronology,  was  145 1  years  before  Chrjft,  until  1426 
years  before  Chrift,  when,  according  to  the  fame  chronology,  Joiliua 
died.  If  therefore  we  find  in  this  bock,  fsid  to  have  been  written 
by  Jofhua,  references  to  facii  done  after  the  death  of  Joihua,  it  is 
evidence  that  Jofhua  could  not  be  the  author  ;  and  alfo  that  the  book 
could  not  have  been  written  till  after  the  time  of  the  latefl  fad: 
which  it  re  :ords.  As  to  the  charader  of  the  book,  it  is  horrid. 
It  is  a  military  hiilory  of  rapine  and  murder,  as  favage  and  brutal, 
as  thofe  recorded  of  his  predeceffor  in  '  villany  and  hypocrify, 
Mofes  ;  and  the  biafphemy  condfts,  as  in  the  former  books,  in 
afcribing  thofe  deeds  to  the  orders  of  the  Almighty. 

In  the  firfl  place,  the  book  of  Jofnua,  as  is  the  cafe  in  the  pre- 
ceding books,  is  written  in  the  third  perfon.  It  is  the  hiflorian  of 
Jofhua  that  fpeaks  ;  for  it  would  have  been  abfurd  and  vainglorious 
that  Jofhua  fhoaid  fay  of  himfelf,  as  is  faid  of 'him,  in  the  lait 
verfe  of  the  6th  chapter,  that  his  fame  luas  no  fed  throughout  all 
the  country,     I  now  come  more  immediately  to  the  proof. 

In  the  24th  chapter,  ver.  31,  it  is  faid,  "  And  Ifrael  ferved  the 
"  Lord  all  the  days  of  Jofhua,  and  all  the  dajs  of  the  elders  that 
*'  over-li'-jed  Jojhua,"  How  in  the  name  of  common  fenfe,  can  it 
be  Jofhua  that   rektes  what  people   had  done  after   he  was  dead  ? 

K  % 


76  PATNE's     WORKS. 

This  account  muH  not  only  have  been  written  by  feme  hiftorian  that 
lived  after  Jofliua,  but  that  lived  alfo  after  the  Elders  that  had  out- 
lived Jcfhua. 

There  are  feveral  psffages,  of  a  general  meaning  v/ith  refpeft  to 
time,  fcattered  throughout  the  bock  of  Jofhua,  that  carries  the 
time  in  which  the  book  was  written  to  a  diftance  from  the  time  of 
jofhua,  but  without  marking  by  exclufion  any  particular  time  as 
in  the  paifage  above  quoted.  In  that  pallage  the  time  that  inter- 
vened between  the  death  of  Jcfiiua  and  the  death  of  the  Elders,  is 
excluded  defcripti^  ely  and  abfolutely,  and  the  evidence  fubftantiates 
that  the  book  could  not  have  been  written  till  after  the  death  of 
the  laft. 

But  though  the  paffages  to  w-hich  I  allude,  and  which  I  am  going 
to  quote,  do  not  defignate  any  particular  time  by  exclufion,  they 
imply  a  time  far  more  dirtant  from  the  days  of  Jofhua,  than  is 
contained  betv/een  the  death  of  Jofhua  and  the  death  of  the  Elders. 
Such  is  the  pillage,  chap,  x,  ver.  14,  where,  after  giving  an 
account  that  the  fun  flood  ftill  upon  Gibeon,  and  the  moc-n  in  the 
valley  of  Aialon,  at  the  command  of  Jolhua  (a  tale  fit  only  to 
am.ufe  children)-'  the  pafTage  fays — "  And  there  was  no  day  like 
**  that,  before  it,  nor  after  it,  that  the  Lord  hearkened  to  the  voice 
of  a  man." 

The  time  implied  by  the  expreiTion,  qfter  it,  that  is  after //^^.^  day, 
beiuf*-  put  in  coraparifon  with  all  the  time  that  paffed  before  it,  muft, 
in  order  to  give  any  expreffive  li^nification  to  the  paffage,   mean  a 

*  This  tale  of  the  fun  ft  anding  ftill  npon  momit  Gibeoti,  and  the  moon 
in  the  'galley  of  Ajalon,  is  one  of  th of e  fables  that  dcteBs  itfelf.  Such 
a  circiimfance  could  net  ha've  happened  ^^K:ithout  being  kno-ixn  all  cuer 
the  <Tjuorld.  One  half  tvordd  ha-ve  ^wondered  njjhy  the  fun  did  not  rife, 
and  the  other  n^vhy  it  did  not  fet,  and  the  tradition  of  it  fixculd  be 
uni'i-erfal;  ^whereas  there  is  not  a  nation  in  the  n.vorld  that  knoi^vs  any 
thino  about  itJ^Bnt  'zvhy  muft  the  moon  ftand ftill  ?  What  occafon 
could  there  be  for  moon  light  in  the  day  time,  and  that  too  'while  the  fun 
fhined?  As  a  poetical  figure,  the  'whcle  is  tv  ell  enough  ;  it  is  a  kin  to  that 
in  thefongof  Deborah  and  Barak,  The  liars  in  their  courfes  fought 
againft  Sifera  ;  but  it  is  ijifcrior  to  the  figurati've  declaration  of  Mahomet 
to  the  perfons  'vjho  came  to  expoftulate  ^ith  him  on  his  goings  on  ; 
Wert  thou,  [aid  he,  to  come  to  me  with  the  fun  in  thy  riglit  hand, 
and  the  moon  in  thy  left,  it  fhould  not  altc  my  career.  For  Jofhua, 
to  ha've  exceeded  Mahomet  j  he  fhould  ha^ce  put  the  fun  and  moon  one  in 


Part    II.  A  G  E     O  F     R  E  A  S  O  N.  77 

great  length  cf  time.  P^or  example,  it  would  have  been  ridiculous 
to  have  faid  To  the  next  da)',  or  the  next  week,  or  the  next  month, 
or  the  next  year.  To  give  therefore  meaning  to  the  pulTage,  compa- 
rative with  the  wonder  it  relates,  and  the  prior  time  it  alludes  to, 
it  mail  mean  centuries  of  years.  Lefs  however  than  one  would  be 
triiiino-  ;  and  lefs  than  two  would  be  barely  admiffible. 

A  diilant  but  general  time  is  alfo  exprelTed  in  the  oth  chapter, 
where,  after  giving  an  account  of  the  taking  the  city  of  Ai,  it  is 
faid,   ver.  28,   "  And  Joftiua  burned  Ai,    and  made  it  an   heap  for 
**  ever,   a  defolat^pn  zt^ito  this  day.'*     And   again,  ver.  29,   where 
fpeaking  of  the  king  of  Ai,  whom  Joihua  had  hanged,  and  buried 
at  the  entering  oi  the  gnte,    it  is  faid,   "  And  he  raifcd  thereon  a       "^ 
**  great  heap  of  ftones,   which   remaineth  mito  this  daj  ;"  that  is,       "^^ 
unto   the  day  or  time  in  v,-hich  the  writer  of  the  book  of  Jofliua        , 
lived.      And  again,   in  the  i oth  chapter,  where,  after  fpeaking  of 
the  five  kings,    whom  Joihua  had  hanged  on  five  trees,  axd   then 
thro>vn  in  a  cave,   it  is  faid,    ^'  And   he  laid  great  ftones  en   the       '3 
cave's  mouth,   vvhich  remain  unto  this  •vf^^  day."  \ 

V  In    enumerating  the  feveral  exploits  of  joihua  and  of  the  tribes 
>        and  of  tlie  places  which  they  conquered  or  attempted,   it   i'j  faid,     'I : 
;J        chap.  XV,  V.  6^,   "  As  for  the  jebufites,  the  inhabitants  of  Jerufa-      ^ 

"  lem,   the  children   of  Judah  could  not  drive  them  out ;  but  the     V 
"  Jebufites  dwell  with  the  children  of  Judah  at  Jerusalem  u»fo 
!j    ^         "  this  day." — The  quefdon  upon  this  paffage  is,  at  v/hat  time  did  the     'p 
J   V.         Jebufites  and  the  children  cf  Judah  dwell  together  at  Jerufalem  ?  As 
»  ^         this  matter  occurs  again  in  the  firft  chapter  of  Judges,   I  fhall  re-     N 
ferve  my  obfervations  till  I  come  to  that  part.  ^ 

Having  thus  ihewn  from  the  book  of  Jofliua  itfelf,  without  any 
auxiliary  evidence  whatever,  that  Jofliua  is  not  the  author  of  that 
boolcT* and  that  it  is  anonymous,  and  confequently  without  authority, 
I  proceed  as  before-mentioned  to  the  book  of  Judges. 

The  book  of  Judges   is  anonymous  on.  the  face  of  it,  and  thefe- 

(«  each  pockety  and  carried  them  as  Guy  Faux  carried  his  dark   lanthom, 

Jt  and  taken  them  out  to  Jhine  as  he  might   happen  to  ^jcant  them.      The 

>S\  fahlime  and  the  rullciilcus  are  ofteti  Jo  nearly  related^  that  It  is  di£ici'.lt 

•v<c|  to  clafs  them  j'eparately.      One  Jiep  abo've  the  fithlime  makes  the  rldku- 

X  lousj  and  one  Jiep  abo've  the   ridiculous  makes  the  fublime  again.      The 

sv  account,  hai.vevery  abflrat'ted  from  the  poetical  fancy  ^  jhexvs  the  igno. 

V  rarice  of  foJhuOy  for  hi  Jhadd  hat'e  commanded  the  earth  to  ha-x'e  (iced 

^ '  mil. 


^ 


7S  MAINE'S     WORKS. 

>^j5     fore  even  the  pretence  is  wanting  to  call  it  the  word  of  God.     It 
has  not  fo  much  as  a  nominal  voucher.     It  is  altogether  fatherlefs.. 
This  book  begins  with  the  fame  expreifion  as  the  book  of  Jofhua, 
\;>|     That  of  Jofliua    begins,   chap,  i,   ver.    i,   Nonv  after  the   death   of 
f^     Mofes,  Sec.  And  this  of  Judges  begins  ;  No'zv  after  the  death  ofjofbuay 
Sec.     This  and  the  fimilarity  of  flyle  between  the  two  books,  in- 
dicate that  they  are  the  v/ork  of  the  fame  author  ;    but  who  he  was 
•^      is  altogether  unknown.     The  only  point  that  the  book  proves,  is, 
\     that  the  author  lived  long  after  the  time  of  Jofiiua.:  for  though  it 
V     begins  as  if  it  followed  immediately  after  his  death,  the  fecond 
^    chapter  is  an  epitome  or  abilrac^l  of  the  whole  book,  which,  ac- 
^     cording   to   the   bible  chronology,    extends  its  hiiicry  through   a 
^     fpace   of  three  hundred  and  fix  years  ;  that  is,  from  the  death   of 
\^      'jcfiiua  1426  years  before  Chrift,  to   the  death  of  Sampfon   1120 
^     years  before  Chrift,  and  only  twenty-five  years  before  Saul  went  to 
^   Jeeli  hh  father's  ^f/es^  a?id  nvas  made  king  ;  but  there  is  good  reafcn  to 
believe  that  it  was  not  written  till  the  time  of  David  at  lead,  and 
that  the  book  of  Jofhua  was  not  written  before  the  fame  time.^^ 
In  the  fiiil    chapter  of  Judges,  the  writer,  after  announcing  the 
*V      de?th    of  joflrua,   proceeds    to    tell  what    happened    between   the 
children  of  Judah  and  the  native  inhabitVints  of  the  land  of  Canaan. 
In  this  flatement,  the  writer,  having  abruptly  mentioned  Jer7falemy 
i       in  the  7  th  verfe,  fays  immediately  after,  in  the  Sthverfe,  by  w^ay 
2       of  explanation,    "  Now   the  children  of  Judah  Z?^^  fought  againft 
Jerufalem  and  taken  //."As  Confequently  this  book  could  not  have 
'v^       been  written  before  Jerufalem  had  been  taken.     The  reader  will 
'\^       recoUcft   the   quotation   I  have   juft  before   made   from  the   15th 
chapter  of  Jcfliua,  ver.  63,    where   it  is   faid,  that    the    Jebujttes 
\      d.'v^'cll  ~dJith   the  children  ofyzidah  at  ferufalem  at  this  daj,  meaning 
^»>j.,  the  time  v.hcn  the  book  of  JoHiua  was  written. 
'^  Y      The  evidence  I  have  already  produced  to  prove  that  the  books  I 
V^  ,  V  have  hitherto  treated  of  were  not  written  by  the  perfons  to  whom 
.';^  v^they  are  afcribcd,  nor  till  many  years  after  their  death,   if  fuch 
Sv^  Q,j  perfons  ever  lived,  is  already  fo  abundant,  that  I  can  afford  to  admit 
^,   X^^is  pafiage  with  lefs  weight  than  I  am.  entitled  to  draw  from  it. 
^^^    For  the  cafe  is,  that  fo  far  as  the  bible  can  be  credited  as  an  hiilory, 
i^  1^  I  the  city  of  Jerufalem  v/as  not  taken  till  the  time  of  David,  and 
i    \  confequently   that  the  book  of   Jpihua  and    of  Judges    v/ere   not 
written  till  after  the  commencement  of  the  reign  of  David,  which 
was  370  years  after  the  death  of  Jofhua. 
"1^  The' name  of  the  city  that  was  afterwards  called  Jerufalem,  was 


1 


S^M      Part  II.  A  G  E     O  F    R  E  A  S  O  N.  79 

t  ij      originally  Jebus   or  Jebufi,  snd  was  the  capital  of  the  Jebulites. 

>^  \      The   account   of  David's   taking  this   city  is  given  in  2   Samuel, 

I      chap.  V,  ver.  4,   Sec.  alfo  iti  i  Chron.  chap,  xiv,   v.  4,  &c.     There 

is  no  mention  in  any  part  of  the  bible  that  it  was  ever  taken  before, 

nor  any  account  that  favours  fuch  an  opinion.     It  is  not  faid,  either 

^  ^       in  Samuel  or  in  Chronicles,  that  theyuUer/y  deftroyed  ment  <vjomeny  and 

^        children — that  they  left  not  a  Jotil  to^   breathe^  as  is  faid  of  their  other 

conquells ;  and  the  filence  here  obferved,   implies  that  it  was  taken 

\.     .  t*/  capitulation,    and   that   the  Jebufites,    the  native  inhabitants, 

y  V  continued  to  live   in  the   place  after  it  was  taken.     The  account 

N  ^J  therefore  given  in  Jofhaa,   that  the  Jehufues  dvjell^^'ith  the  children 

1        ?/"  Jtidah  at  Jeru/alemy   at  this  day  ;  correfponds  to  no  Other  time 

.  i  ^  than  after  the  taking  the  city  by  David.  V 

HavLng  now  ihewn  that  every  book  in  the  bible,  from  GcncGs  to 
J  .Judges,  is  v/ithout  authenticity,  I  come  to  the  book  of  i?///Z — an 
^  J  V,  idle  bundling  ftory,  fooliihly  told,  nobody  knov/s  by  whom,  about 
^  ;^  4  a  ftrolling  country  girl  creeping  fiily  to-bed  to  her  coulin  Boaz. 
J  \  "1  Pretty  ftuiF  indeed  to  be  called  the  word  of  God  !  It  is,  howevej", 
5  J  ^one  of  the  bell  books  in  the  bible,  for  it  is  free  from  murder  and  rapine, 
M  .^"^  I  come  next  to  the  two  books  of  Samuel :  and  to  (hew  that  thoie 
\  \  ^  books  were  not  written  by  Samuel,  nor  till  a  great  length  of  time 
I '  "^'J  after  the  death  of  Samuel,  and  that  they  are,  like  all  the  formv;r 
-  *^i5  books,  anonymous,   and  without  authority. 

To  be  convinced  that  thefe  books  have  been  written  much  later 
than  the  time  of  Samuel,  and  confequently  not  by  him,  it  is  only 
neceffary  to  read  the  account  which  the  writer  gives  of  Saul  going  ' 
to  feek  his  father's  alTes,  and  of  his  interview  v/ith  Samuel,  of 
whom  Saul  went  to  enquire  about  thofe  loft  alTes,  as  fooliih  people 
now-a-days  go  to  a  conjurer  to  enquire  after  loft  things. 

The  v/riter,  in  relating  this  ftory  of  Saul,  Samuel,  and  the  affes,  does 
not  tell  it  as  a  thing  that  had  juft  then  happened,  but  as  an  a-ncle-nt  J}ory 
in  the  time  this  ^jjriter  Iroed;  for  he  tells  it  in  the  language  or  terms 
ufed  at  the  time  that  Samuel  lived,  which  obliges  the  writer  to  explain 
the  ftory  in  the  terms  or  language  ufed  in  the  time  the  ^jjr'iter  lived. 
Samuel,  in  the  account  given  of  him  in  the  nrft  of  thofe  books, 
chap.  ix.  is  called  the  Seer;  and  it  is  by  this  term  that  Saul  enquires 
after  him,  ver.  11.  "  And  as  they  (Saul  and  his  fervant)  went  up 
"  the  hill  to  the  city,  they  found  young  tiiaidens  going  out  to  draw 
"  water  ;  and  they  faid  unto  them,  is  the  Seer  hereP"  Saul  then  went 
according  to  the  direction  of  thefe  maidens,  and  met  Samuel  with- 
out knowing  him,  and  faid  to  him,  ver.  18,   ''  Tell  me,  I  pra^^ 


So  P  A  I  NE's     WO  RK  S. 

^^  thee,  where  irit  Seer's  hou/e  is."  And  Samuel  anfwered  Saul,  and 
faid,  /  am  the  Seer, 

',  As  the  writer  of  the  book  of  Sani,uel  relates  thcfe  queftions  and 
anfwers  in  the  language,  or  manner  of  fpsaking  ufed  in  the  time 
they  are  faid  to  have  been  fpoken  ;  and  as  that  manner  of  fpeaking 
was  out  of  ufe  M'hen  this  author  wrote,  he  found  h  neceffary,  in 
order  to  make  the  ftory  underftood,  to  explain  the  terms  in  which 
thefe  queftions  and  anfwers  are  fpoken.  And  he  does  this  in  the 
9th  verfe,  where  he  fays — '*  Before-thne  in  Ifrael,  when  a  man  went 
to  enquire  of  God,  thus  he  fpake,  come  let  us  go  to  the  Seer ;  for 
he  that  is  now  called  a  prophet,  was  hefore-time  called  a  Seer." 
This  proves,  as  I  have  before  faivi,  that  this  ilory  of  Saul,  Samuel, 
and  the  afies,  was  an  ancient  (lory  at  the  time  the  book-of  Samuel 
was  written,  and  corifequently  that  Samuel  did  not  write  it,  and 
that  the  bpok  is  v/ithoul  authenticity. 

Bat  if  we  go  farther  into  thofe  books,  the  evidence  is  ftill  more 
pofitive,  that  Samuel  is  not  the  writer  of  them;  for  they  relate 
things  that  did  not  happen  till  feveral  years  afti,'  the  death  of 
Samuel.  Samuel  died  before  Saul  ;  for  the  ill  of  Samuel,  chap, 
xxviii,  tells,  that  Saul  and  the  witch  of  Endor  conjured  Samuel  up 
after  he  v/as  dead ;  yet  ll^e  hiftory  of  matters  contained  in  thofc 
books  is  extended  through  th^  remaining  part  of  Saul's  life,  and  to 
the  latter  end  of  the  life  of  David,  who  fucceeded  Saul.  The 
account  of  the  death  and  burial  of  Samuel  (a  thing  which  he  could 
not  v/rite  himfelf)  is  related  in  the  25th  chapter  of  the  firft  book 
of  Sam.uel ;  and  the  chronology  affixed  to  this  chapter,  makes  this 
to  be  1060  years  before  Chriil ;  yet  the  hiftory  of  this  Jirji  book 
is  brought  down  to  1056  years  before  Chrift,  that  is,  to  the  death 
©f  Saul,    which  was  not  till  four  years  after  the  death   of  Samuel. 

The  fecond  book  of  Samuel  bee-ins  with  an  account  of  things  that 
did  not  happen  till  four  years  after  Sam.uel  v/as  dead  ;  for  it  begins 
with  the  reign  of  David,  who  fucceeded  SauJ,  and  it  goes  on  to  the 
end  of  David's  reign,  which  was  forty-three  years  after  the  death 
ci  Samuel;  and  therefore  the  books  are  in  themfelves  pofitive 
evidence  that  they  v/ere  not  witten  by  Samuel. 

I  have  now  gone  through  all  the  bocks  in  the  firft  part  of  the 
bible  to  which  the  nam^es  of  perfons  are  afiived  as  being  the  authors 
of  thofe  books,  and  which  the  church,  ftiling  itfeif  the  Chriftian 
church,  have  impofed  upon  the  world  as  the  writings  of  Mofes, 
Jolhua,  and  Samuel,  .and  I  have  detcfted  and  proved  the  falftiood  of 
this  irnpolition. — And  now,   ye  priefts  of  every   defcription,    who 


Part  II.  A  G  E     O  F    R  K  A  S  O  N.  81       j 

have  preached  and  written  againft  the  former  part  of  the.  Jge  of      \ 
ReafoHy  what  have  ye  to  fay  ?  Will  ye,  with  all  this  mafs  of  evi.      ^ 
dence   againft  you,  and  flaring    you  in   the  face,    ftill   have  the       1  "< 
aflurance  to  march  into  your  pulpits,  and  continue  to  impofe  thefe      | 
books  on  your  congregations  as  the  works  of  tnfp'ired  penmen^  and     ^. 
the  word  of  God  ?  when  it  is  as  evident  as  demonftration  can  make     « 
truth  appear,  that  the  perfons  who,  ye  fay,  are  the  authors,  are      j  ^ 
not  the  authors,  and  ye  know  not  who  the  authors  are.     What    '  j   -^ 
fhadow  of  pretence  have  ye  now  to  produce   for  continuing  the   ^^  ', 
biafphemous  fraud  ?  What  have  ye  ftill  to  offer  againft  the  pure  and     v    > 
moral   religion  of  Deifmf  in  fupport  of  your  fyftem  of  fallhood,      c     ■ 
idolatry,  and  pretended  revelation  ?  ^ 

Had  the  cruel   and  murdering  orders  with  which  the  bible  is 
filled,  and  the  numberlefs  torturing  executions  of  men,  women  and 
children,    in  confequence  of,  thofe    orders,  been  afcribed  to  fome 
friend  whofe   memory  you  revered,  you  would  have  glowed   with 
fatisfadlion  at  detecting  the  falfhood  of  the  charge,  and  gloried  in 
defending  his  injured  fame.    It  is  becaufe  ye  are  funk  in  the  cruelty 
of  fuperftition,  or  feel  no  intereft  in  the  honour  of  your  Creator, 
that  ye  liften  to  the  horrid  tales  of  the  bible,  or  hear  them  with 
callous  indifference.     The  evidence  I  have  produced,  and  fhall  ftill 
produce,  in  the  courfe  of  this  work,  to  prove  that  the  bible  is 
without  authority,  will,  whilft  it  wounds  the    ftubbornnefs  of  a    > 
prieft,  relieve  and  tranquilize  the  mind  of  millions.     It  will  free 
them  from  all  thofe  hard  thoughts  of  the  Almighty,  which  prieft- 
craft  and  the  bible  had  infufed  into  their  minds,  and  which  ftood 
in  everlafting  oppofition  to  all  their  ideas  of  his  moral  juftice  and 
benevolence. 

I  come  now  to  the  two  books  of  Kings,  and  the  two  books  of 
Chronicles.  Thofe  books  are  altogether  hiftorical,  and  are  chiefly 
confined  to  the  lives  and  actions  of  the  Jewifh  kings,  who  in 
general  were  a  parcel  of  rafcals :  but  thefe  are  matters  with  which 
we  have  no  more  concern  than  we  have  with  the  Roman  emperors, 
or  Homer's  account  of  the  Trojan  war.  Befides  which,  as  thofe 
books  are  anonymous,  and  as  we  know  nothing  of  the  v/riter,  or 
of  his  charader,  it  is  impoffible  for  us  to  know  what  degree  of 
credit  to  give  to  the  matters  related  therein.  Like  all  other  ancient 
hiftories,  they  appear  to  be  a  jumble  of  fable  and  of  fad,  and  of 
probable  and  of  improbable  things,  but  which  diftance  of  time  and 
place,  and  change  of  circumftances  in  the  world,  have  rendered 
obfolete,  and  uninterefting. 


S2  PAINE's     WORKS. 

The  chief  ufe  I  fliaH  make  of  thofe  books  will  be  that  of  com- 
paring  them  with  each  other,  and  with  other  parts  of  the  bible, 
to  fhew  the  confufion,  contradidion,  and  cruelty,  in  this  pretended 
word  of  God. 

The  firfc  book  of  Kings  begins  with  the  reign  of  Solomon,  which, 
according  to  the  bible  chronology,  was  1015  years  before  Chrift  ; 
and  the  fecond  book  ends  588  years  before  Chrill,  being  a  little 
after  the  reign  of  Zedekiah,  whom  Nebuchadnezzar,  after  taking 
jerafalem,  and  conquering  the  Jews,  carried  captive  to  Babylon. 
The  'two  books  include  a  fpace  of  four  hundred  and  twenty-feven 
years,    ^    ■.  »-  -      . 

ihe  two  books  of  Chronicles  are  an  hiitory  of  the  fame  times, 
and  in^eJieJTal  of  the  fame  perfons  by  another  author  5  for  it  would 
be  abiurd  to-ffippofe  that  the  fame  author  wrote  the  hiftory  twice 
over.  Ihe  firft  bdok  of  ChrGnicJes  (after  giving  the  genealogy 
from  Adam  -to  Saul  w-liick  takes  up  the  firfl  nine  chapters)  begins 
with  the  reign  of  David,  'and  the  laft  book  ends  as  in  the  laft  book 
of  Kingsj'fooh  after  the  reign  of  Zedekiah,  about  588  years  before 
t;hriii,  :  The  tv.-o  lail  verfes  of  the  laft  chapter  bring  the  Inftory 
£fty-£,WjO- ..years  more  forward,  that  is,  to  536.  But  thefe  verfes 
do  not  belong  to  the  book,  as  I  fii all  fhew  v/hen  I  come  to  f\:>eak 
of  the  book  of  Ezra. 

The: '-two  books  of  Kings,  befides  the  hiftory  of  Saul,  D^ivid, 
and  Solomon,  who  reigned  over  all  Ifrael,  contain  an  abllrail  of 
the -lives  of  feventeen  kin^sand  one  queen,  v/ho  are  ftiled  kings  of 
Judah/andof  nineteen  who  are  ftiled  kings  ot  ifrael ;  for  the  Jewifti 
nation,  immediately  on  the  death  of  Solomon,  fplit  into  two  par- 
ties, who  chofe  feparate  kings,  and  who  carried  on  moil  rancorous 
Vvars  againil  each  other. 

Thefe  two  books  are  little  more  than  a  hiftory  of  afialTinationF, 
treachery,  and  wars.  The  cruelties  that  the  Jews  had  accuftomed 
themfelves  to  pradtife  on  the  Canaanites,  whofe  country  they  had 
favagely  invaded  under  a  pretended  gift  from  God,  they  afterwards 
pradifed  as  furioufly  on  each  other.  Scarcely  half  their  kings  died 
a  natural  death,  and  in  fome  inllances  whole  families  were  deftroyed 
to  iecure  poifeiTion  to  the  faccefibr,  who,  after  a  few  years,  and 
fometimes  only  a  few  months,  or  lefs,  fhared  the  fame  fate.  In 
the  tenth  chapter  of  the  fecond  book  of  Kings,  an  account  is 
given  of  two  baikets  full  of  children's  heads,  feventy  in  number, 
being  expofed  at  the  entrance  of  the  city  ;  they  were  the  children 
of  Ahab,  and  were  murdered  by  the  orders  of  Jehu,  whom  Eiiiha, 


Part  II.  A  G  E     O  F     R  E  A  S  0  N.  83 

the  pretended  man  ot",God,j had  anointed  to  be  king  over  Ifrsel,  on 
purpofe  to  commit  tliis  bloody  deed,  r;nd;a(failmate-hi3  jtredecelTor. 
And  in  the  accouiu  of  the  reign  of  Manahain,  one  oif  the  kings  of 
Ifrael,  who  hhd  murdered  Shaliiiini  vyho  had  rcig'neid'ibat  •.one 
months  it  is  (did,  2  Kin;»?,  chap,  xv,  yer.  i6,.that  M-anaham  fmotc 
the  city  of  Tiphfah,  becaufe  they  opened  not  the  citf  to  him,  a.-.  J 
all  the  n.vome?t  therein  that  <ivere  ivrfh  ehil^,  he  t'lpfiip, 

C-ouki  we  permit  ourlclveG  to  fuppofs  th::t  the  Almighty  vronld 
diflinguifn  any  nation  of  people  by  lie  name  of  his  chofen  peopl?^ 
we  miift  fuppofe  that  people  to  have  been  an  example  to  all  the  relt 
of  the  world  of  the  pureft  piety   and  humanity ;   and   not  ftich  a 

nation  of  ruffians  and  cut-throats  as  the  ancient  Jc.vs  -were.  A 
people  who,  corrupted  by,  and  copying  after,  fach  monilcrs  and 
impoftors  as  Mofes  and  Aaron,  Jodma,  Samuel,  and  David,  had 
diftino-uilhcd  themfelves  above  alDothers,  on  the  face  of  the  known 
earth,  for  barbarity .  and  wickednefs.  .  If  we  will  not  ilabborniy 
Hiut  our  eyes,  and  fteel  our  hearts,  it  is  impofliblc  not  to  fee,  in 
fpite  of  all  that  long-eilablifhed  fuperftition  impofes  upon  the  mind, 
that  the  flattering  appellation  of  his  chofeu  people,  is  no  other  than 
a  LIE,  which  the  prieits  and  leaders  of  the  Jews  had  invented  to 
cQver  the  bafenefs  of  their  own  characters,  and  v/hich  Chriftian 
priefts,  fometimcs  as  corrupr,  and  often  as  cruel,  have  profciTed  to 
believe. 

.  The  tv/o  books  of  Chronicles  area  repetition  of  the  fame  crimes ; 
but  the  hiftory  is  broken  in  feveral  places  by  the  author  leaving. out 
the  reign  of  fom.e  of  their  kings  ;  and  in  this,  as  well  as  in  that  of 
Kings,  there  is  fuch  a  frequent  tranfition  from  kings  of  Judah  to 
kings  of  Ifrael,  and  from  kings  of  Ifraei  to  kings  of  Judah,  that 
the  narrative  is  obfcure  in  the  reading.  In  the  f^ime^book  the 
biftory  fometimes  contradicts  itfelf.  For  example,  in  the  feccnd 
book  of  Kings,  chap.  i.  ver.  17,  we  are  told,  but  in  rather 
ambiguous  terms,  that  after  the  death  of  Ahaziah,  king  of  Ifrael, 
Jeheram  or  Joram  (who  was  of  the  houfe  of  Ahab)  reigned  in  his 
(lead  in  the  J'ecoad  year  of  Jehoram  or  Joram,  fon  of  Jehofnaphat, 
king  of  Judah;  and  in  chap.  viii.  ver.  16,  of  the  fame  book,  it  is 
fi.id,  "  And  in  x\y^  fifth  year  ^q{  Joram,  the  {on  of  Ahab,  king  of 
Ifrael,  Jehofnaphat,  being  then  king  of  Judah,  Jehoram  the  fon  of 
Jchoihaphat,  king  of  Judah,  began  to  reign  ;"  that  is,  one 
cJiapter  fays,  that  Jorafn  of  Judah  bt-gan  to  reign  in  t]\t/cco?/d  year 
of  joram -of  Ifrael ;  and  the  other  chapter  fays,  that  Joram  of 
Ifrael  began  to  reigvi  in  the  fifth  year  of  Joram  of  Judah. 


84  PAINE's     WORKS. 

Several  of  the  moft  extraordinary  matters  related  in  one  hidory, 
as  having  happened  during  the  reign  of  fuch  or  fuch  of  their  kings, 
are  not  to  be  found  in  the  other  in  relating  the  reign  of  the  fame 
king.  For  example,  the  two  firft  rival  kings  after  the  death  of 
Solomon,  were  Rehcboam  and  Jeroboam. ;  and  in  i  Kings,  chap, 
xii.  and  xiii.  an  account  is  given  of  Jeroboam  making  an  offering 
of  burnt-incenfe,  and  that  a  man,  who  is  there  called  a  man  of  God, 
cried  out  againft  the  altar,  ch.  xiii.  ver.  2,  ''  O  altar,  altar!  thus 
^^  faith  the  Lord,  behold  a  child  {hall  be  born  unto  the  houfe  of 
^'  David,  Jofiah  by  name,  and  upon  thee  fliall  he  offer  the  priefts 
•'  of  the  high  places  that  burn  incenfe  upon  thee,  and  m.en's  . 
^^  bones  fhali  be  burned  upon  thee." — Verfe  3,  ''  And  it  came  to 
'^  pafs,  when  king  Jeroboam  heard  the  faying  of  the  man  of  God, 
**  which  had  cried  againfl  the  altar  in  Bethel,  that  he  put  forth  his 
''  hand  from  the  altar,  faying,  Lay  hold  on  him ;  and  his  hand 
"  which  he  put  out  againft  him,  dried  up,  /o  that  he  coul4  not  pull 
*'  it  in  a^atn  to  hlm»'* 

One  v/ouid  thirik  that  fuch  an  extraordinary  cafe  as  this  (which 
is  fpoken  of  as  a  judgment)  happening  to  the  chief  of  one  of  the 
parties,  and  that  at  the  firft  moment  of  the  feparation  of  the 
Ifraelites  into  two  nations,  would,  if  it  had  been  true,  been  recorded 
in  both  hiflories.  But  though  men  in  later  times  have  believed 
all  that  the  prophets  hanje  /aid  unto  them,  it  does  not  appear  that 
thofe  prophets  or  hiftorians  believed  each  other.  They  knew  each 
other  too  well. 

A  long  account  alfo  is  given  in  Kings  about  Elijah.  It  runs 
through  feveral  chapters,  and  concludes  with  telling,  2  Kings, 
chap.  ii.  \  er.  11,  "  And  it  came  to  pafs  as  they  (Elijah  and  Elilha) 
"  ftill  went  on,  and  talked,  that  behold  there  appeared  a  chariot  of 
'«  frey  and  horjes  of  fire,  and  parted  them  both  afunder,  and  Elijah 
**  n»ent  up  by  a  ivhirlnvind into  hea'ven,"  Hum  I  This  the  author 
of  Chronicles,  miraculous  as  the  ftory  is,  makes  no  mention  of, 
thou'^h  he  mentions  Elijah  by  name.  Neither  does  he  fay  any* 
thing  of  the  flory  related  in  the  fecond  chapter  of  the  fame  book 
of  Kings,  of  a  paifcel  of  children  calling  Elifha,  bald-head,  bald. 
head;  and  that  this  man  of  God,  ver.  24,  "turned  back,  and  looked 
*^  upon  them,  and  curfed ihem  in  the  name  of  the  Lord ;  and  there 
"  came  forth  two  (he-bears  out  of  the  wood,  and  tore  forty  and  two 
"  children  of  them."  He  alfo  paffes  over  in  filence  the  ftory  told, 
2  Kings,  chap.  xiii.  that  when  they  were  burying  a  man  in  the 
fepulchre  where  Elifha  had  been  buried,  it  happened  that  the  dead 


i 


Part  II.  A  G  E    O  F    R  E  A  S  O  N.  $'f 

man,  as  they  were  letting  him  down,  (ver.  21.)"  touched  the  bones 
'*  of  Eliiha,  and  he  (the  dead  man)  re^vi'ved,  and  Jiood  upon  his 
"  feet."  The  ftory  does  not  tell  us,  whether  they  buried  the  man, 
notwithftanding  he  revived  and  flood  upon  his  feet,  or  drew  him 
up  again. — Upon  all  thefe  ftories,  the  writer  of  the  Chronicles  is  as 
iilent  as  any  writer  of  the  prefent  day,  who  did  not  choofe  to  be 
accufed  of  lyingy  or  at  leall  of  romancmgy  would  be  about  ftories  of 
the  fame  kind.  ^ 

But,  however  thefe  two  hiftorians  may  differ  from  each  other 
with  refpeft  to  the  tales  related  by  either,  they  are  filent  alike  with 
refped  to  thofe  men  ftiled  prophets,  whofe  writings  fill  up  the  latter 
part  of  the  bible.  Ifaiah,  who  lived  in  the  time  of  Hezekiah,  i« 
mentioned  in  Kings,  and  again  in  Chronicles,  when  thefe  hiftories 
are  fpeaking  of  that  reign ;  but  except  in  one,  or  two  inftances  at 
mofl,  and  thofe  very  flightly,  none  of  the  reft  are  fo  much  as  fpoken 
of,  or  even  their  exiftence  hinted  at,  though,  according  to  the  bible 
chronology,  they  lived  within  the  time  thofe  hiftories  were  v/ritten, 
and  fome  of  them  long  before.  If  thofe  prophets,  as  they  are 
called,  were  men  of  fuch  importance  in  their  day,  as  the"compilers 
cf  the  bible,  and  priefts  and  commentators  have  fince  reprefented 
them  to  be,  how  can  it  be  accounted  for,  that  not  one  of  thofe 
hiftories  fhould  fay  any  thing  about  them  ? 

The  hiftory  in  the  books  of  Kings  and  of  Chronicles  is  brought 
forward,  as  I  have  already  faid,  to  the  year  588  before  Chrift.  It 
will  therefore  be  proper  to  examine  which  of  thofe  prophets  lived 
before  that  period.  Here  follows  a  table  of  all  the  prophets,  with 
the  times  in  which  they  lived  before  Chrift,  according  to  the 
chronology  affixed  to  the  firft  chapter  of  each  of.  the  bocks  of  the 
prophets,  and  alfo  of  the  number  of  years  they  lived  before  the  books 
of  Kings  and  Chronicles  were  written; 


IW^ 


S6 


P  A  1  N  E  •  s     W  O  R  K  S. 


TABLE  of  the  prophets,  with  the  ti'ne  in  which  they  lived  before 
Chriil,  and  alfo  before  the  books  of  Kings  and  Chronicles  were 
written. 


Nar 


mes. 


Ifalah,     -     .     .     . 

Jeremiah, 

Ezekiel,      ... 

Dsnicl,        -  .     _ 

Ho  Tea,         .  .     _ 

Joel,      -      -  _  . 

Amos,  -     -  -  _ 

Obadiah,     -  -  - 

lon.di,          _  _  _ 

Mic:ih,         -  -  . 

Nahuii),       _  _  _ 

Habbakuk,  -  - 
Zcphaniah, 

Plaggni       j      after 
Zechariah   >       tlf(^ 
Malachi,    J}-ear5S3. 


Obfervations. 

mentioned, 
r  mentioned  only 
{  in  the  lait  chap. 
[  of  Chronicles. 

not  mentioned. 

not  mentioned. 

not  mentioned. 

not  mentioned. 

not  mentioned. 
not  mentioned, 
fee  the  note.* 
not  mentioned, 
not  mentioned, 
not  mentioned, 
not  mentioned. 


rhi3  table  is  cither  not  very  honourable  for  the  bible  hidorians,  or 
,not  very  honourable  for  the  bible  prophets  ;  and  I  leave  it  to  priefts 
and  commentators,  who  arc  very  le^.rned  in  little  things,  to  fettle 
tli£  point  of  etiquette  between  the  tv/o  ;  and  to  ailign  a  reafon  why 
the  authors  of  Kings  and  of  Chronicles  have  treated  thofe  prophets, 
whom,  in  the  former  part  of  the  Age  of  Reafon,  I  have  confidered 
as  poe^s,  with  as  much  degrading  filence  as  an  hiftorian  of  the 
prefen<  day  would  treat  Peter  Pindar. 

I  have  one  more  obfervation  to  make  on  the  book  of  Chronicles, 
aft^r  which  I  fliail  pafs  on  to  review  the  remainino-  books  of' the 
bible.  * 

\  In  2  Kings,  chap.  xt^.  "jer.  25,   the  na?nc  <yf  Jonah  h  mentioned 
on  account  of  the    rejioration   of  a    trad  of  land,  by    Jer,cboam  ;,  ^ut 
nothing  firth  er  is  fa'id  of  him,   nor  is  any  allujtGn  made  to  the   book  of 
Jonah,  nor  fS  his  expedition  to  Nine'veh,  nor  to  his  encounter  'voith  the 
nvhal-c. 


?ART  II,     ,  A  G  E    O  F    R  E  A  S  O  N.  87 

In.  my  obfervations  on  the  book  of  Genefis,  I  have  quoted  a 
paftage  from  the  36th  chaj:>ter;'Ai<:r.-'3i,  which  evidently  refers  to  a 
time  after  that  kings  be^^an  to  reign  over  the  children  of  Ifrael ; 
and  I  have  (hewn,   that  as  this  verfc  is   verbatim  the  fame  as   in  \ 

I  Chron.  chap,  i,  vcr.  43,  where  it  Hands  confiftently  with  the  j^  ^ 
order  of  hiftory,  which  in  Genefis  it  does  not,  that  the  verfe  in  ^  ; 
Genefis,  and  a  great  part  of  the  36th  chapter,  have  been  taken  *^  ^ 
from  Chronicles ;  and  that  the  book  of  Genefis,  though  it  is  placed  ^  v 
firft  in  the  Bible,  and  afcribed  to  Mofes,  has  been  minufadured  by  ^^  _  , 
fome  unknown  pcrfon  after  the  book  of  Chronicles  was  written,  n  / 
which  was  not  until  at  leaift  eight  hundred  and  fixty  years  after  the  ^  | 
time  of  Mofes.  > 

The  evidence  I  proceed  by,  to  fubftantiate  this,  is  regular,  and  has   ^     ^ 
in  it  but  two    ftages.     Finl:,  as  I   have  already   ftated,    that    thef     - 
palTage  in  Genefis   refers   itfelf  for  7//;z^  to  Chronicles.     Secondly,  *  ^  ^^ 
that  the  book  of  Chronicles  to  which  this  paflage  refers  itfelf,  was    ^ 
not  began   to  be  written  until  at  leaft  eight  hundred  and  fixty  yeai:3    ? 
after  the  time  of  Mofes.     To  prove  this,  we  have  only   to   look 
into  the  thirteenth  verfe  of  the  third  chapter  of  the  firft  book  of   1   ^ 
Chronicles,    where   the   writer,    in  giving    the   genealogy  of  the   v    > 
defcendants    of  David,    mentions  Zedekiah  :    and    it    was    in   the    ^ 
time  of  Zedekiah  that  Nebuchadnezzar  conquered  Jerufalem  588     ^  |^ 
years  before  Chrift,   and    confequently  more  than  860  years  after  ^  "^ 
Mofes.     Thofe.who  havefuperftitioufly  boaftcd  of  the  antiquity  of  -^  ' 
the  bible,    and   particularly  of  the  books  afcribed  to  Mofes,   have 
done  it  v/ithout  examination  and  without  any  other  authority  than 
that  of  one  credulous  man    telling    it    to  another ;    for,   fo  far  as 
hiftorical  and  chronological    evidence  applies,    the  very  firft   book 
in  the  bible  is  not  fo  ancient  as  the  book  of  Homer,   by  more  than 
three  hundred  years,  and  is  about  the  fame  age  with  yEfop's  Fables.  '\  \ 

I  am  not  contending  for  the  morality  of  Homer ;  on  the  contrary, 
I  think  it  to  be  a  book  of  falfe  glory,  tending  to  inftil  immoral  ; 
and  mifchievous  notions  of  honour  ;  and  with  rcfpeft  to  >Efop, 
though  the  moral  is  iVi  general  juH,  the  fable  is  often  cruel ;  and 
the  cruelty  of  the  fable  does  more  injury  to  the  heart,  efpecially  in 
a  child,  than  the  moral  does  good  to  the  judgment. 

Having  now  difmiffed  Kings  and  Chronicles,  I  come  to  the  next 
in  courfe,  the  book  of  Ezra. 

As  one  proof,  among  otliers  I  fhall  produce  to  fiiew  the  diforder 
in  which  this  pretended  word  of  God,  the  bible,  has  been  put 
together,  and  the  uncertainty  of  who  the  authors   were,   we  have 


S8 


PAINE's     WORKS. 


only  to  look  at  the  three  firft  verfes  in  Ezra,  and  the  two  lad  In 
Chronicles  ;  for  by  what  kind  of  cutting  and  Ihuffling  has  it  been, 
that  the  three  firft  verfes  in  Ezra  Ihould  be  the  two  laft  verfes  in 
Chronicles,  or  that  the  two  laft  in  Chronicles  Ihould  be  the 
three  firft  in  Ezra.  Either  the  authors  did  not  know  their  own 
works,  or  the  compilers  did  not  know  the  authors. 


Two  laft  verfes  of  Chronicles. 

Verfe  22.  Now  in  the  firft 
year  of  Cyrus,  king  of  Perfia, 
that  the  word  of  the  Lord, 
fpoken  by  the  mouth  of  Jere- 
miah, might  be  accomplilhed, 
the  Lord  ftirred  up  the  fpirit  of 
Cyrus,  king  of  Perfia,  that  he 
made  a  proclamation  throughout 
all  his  kingdom,  and  put  it  alfo 
in  writing,  faying, 

25.  Thus  faith  Cyrus,  king 
of  Perfia,  all  the  kingdoms  of 
the  earth  hath  the  Lord  God  of 
heaven  given  m.e  ;  and  he  hath 
charged  me  to  build  him  an 
houfe  in  Jerufalem,  which  is  in 
Judah.  Who  is  there  among 
you  of  all  his  people  ?  The  Lord 
his  God  be  with  him,  and  let 
him  go  up.  (Irr 


Three  firft  verfes  of  Ezra. 
Verfe  i.  Now  in  the  firft 
year  of  Cyrus,  king  of  Perfia, 
that  the  v/ord  cf  the  Lord,  by 
the  mouth  of  Jeremiah,  might  be 
fulfilled,  the  Lord  ftirred  up  the 
fpirit  of  Cyrus,  king  of  Perfia, 
that  he  made  a  proclamation 
throughout  all  his  kingdom,  and 
put  it  alfo  in  writing,  faying, 

2.  Thus  faith  Cyrus,  king 
of  Perfia,  the  Lord  God  of  heaven 
hath  given  me  ail  the  kingdoms 
of  the  earth ;  and  he  hath  charged 
me  to  build  him  an  houfe  at 
Jerufalem,  which  is  in  Judah. 

3.  Who  is  there  among  you 
of  all  his  people  ?  His  God  be 
with  him ;  and  let  him  go  up 
to  yerufalenij  <vjhtch  is  in  Judahy 
and  build  the  houfe  of  the  Lord 
God  of  Ifrael  (he  is  the  God) 
ivhich  is  in  ferufalem, 

03^  The  iaft  verfe  in  Chronicles  is  broken  abruptly,  and  ends  in 
the  middle  cf  a  phrafe,  with  the  word  up^  without  fignifying  to 
what  place.  This  abrupt  break,  and  the  appearance  of  the  fame 
verfes  indifferent  bocks,  fnew,  as  I  have  already  faid,  thediforder 
and  Ignorance  in  which  the  bible  has  been  put  together,  and  that 
the  compilers  of  it  had  no  authority  for  what  they  were  doing, 
nor  we  any  amhority  for  believing  what  they  have  done.'* 

/  obfer-oed,  as  I  paffed along ^  f enteral  broken  and fenfelefs pajages 
in  the  bible,  'without  thinking  them  of  confe^uence  enough  to  he  intra. 


iZ  Part  11.               AGE     OF     REASON.                        8^ 

'J 

:  The  only  thing  that  has  any  appearance  of  certainty  in  the  book 

^  of  Ezra,  is  the  time  in  which  it  was  written,  which  was  immediately 

j  after  the  return  of  the  Jews  from  the  Babylonian  captivity,   about 

^  dticed  in  the  body   of  the   nvork  ;  ftich  as  that,    i    Samuel^   chap,  xm, 

I  'vcr.  ly  n.vhere  it  U  faid,    ^^  Saul  reigned  om  ytdiX;   a7id  nvhen  he  had 

\  *'   reigned  two  years  o'ver  I/rae/f  Saul  chofe  hi?n  three  thouj and  men ," 

^  ^c.      The  firji  part  of  the  ^erfe,  that  Saul  reigned  OTit  year,  has  no 

i  /e?t/e,Jince  it  does  ?iot  tell  us  nvhat  Saul  did,  nor  fay  any  thing  of  ivhat 

^  happened,   at  the  end  of  that  one  year  ;  and  it  is,    hcfdes,   7ncre  ahfir. 

^*  dity  to  fay  he  reigned  one  year,  ^vhen  the  'very  next  phrafe  fays  he  had 

\  reigned  tvjQ,  for  if  he  had  reigned  t~i.vo  it   nxias  x?npofJihle   not   to  hai:e 

\  reigned  one. 

A?iQther  infance  occurs  in  fajhtia,  chap,  'v.  <zvhere  the  n.vriter  tells  a 

"^     \  ftory  of  an  angel   (for  fuch   the  table   of  contents  at  the  head  of  the 
>f    y^  chapter  calls  him  J  appearing  unto  Jofhua,  and  the  fiory  ends  abruptly 

\  *i  ^  and  aviihout  any  conclujion.      The  flory  is  as  follo-ivs — 'verfe  13.^^  -"ind 

\f^^  **   it  came  to  pafs  ^when  fq/hua  ivas  by  fericho,  that  he  lift  up  his  ey^s 

i    >^  **   and  looked,   and  behold,    there  food  a  man  ouer  agaivfr  him  ivith  his 


'4^    **  f^ord  draivn  in  his  hand  :   afid  Jo/hua  ivent  unto  him  and  faid  unto 

^4     ^     *'  han,   art  thou  for  us  or  for  our  adx'erfaries  P   "jerfe  14.   And  he  faid, 

\     >w*!^    "  nay;   but  as  captain  of  the  hojl  of  the  Lord  am  I  novj  come.      And 

I  -i  vj     **  Jofhua  fell  on  his  face  to  the  earth  and  did  worfhip,    and  faid  7^7ito 

,  vN^i^s     **  htm.   What  faith  my  Lord  unto  his  fervant  ?  ^crfe  i^.  And  the 

•        ^     "  captain  of  the  Lord's  hof  faid  unto  J  of  ma,   loofe  thy  fhoe  fro7n  ojf 

\    \\^     *'  thy  foot  ;  for  the  place  ivhereon  thou  fan  deft  is   holy.      And  yofiua 

\        \    **   did  fa." — And  --what  then  F  ?ioth'mg  ;  for  here  the  fory   ends,    and 

y^^     the  chapter  too.  ^f 

'^  s^  Either  this  fory  is  broken  off  in  the  ?niddle,   or  it  is  a  ftory  told  by 

fame  feiuify  humourift  in   ridicule   of  Jq/hua's  pretended  7niJ/ion  fro7n 

God ;  and  the  compilers  of  the  bible  not  percefving    the   defg?i    of  the 

ftory,  has  told  it  as  a  ferious  matter.      As  a  ftory  of  humour  and  ridicule, 

it  has  a  great  deal  of  point;  for  it  pompoujly  introduces  a?i  an^el  i7i  the 

figure  of  a  7nan,  avith  a  dran^vn  fdoord   in    his    harid,    before  tvhom 

Jojhua  falls  on  his  face  to  the  earth  and  worfhips  (nxjhich  is  contrary 

to  their  fecond  commandment  J  and  then  this  moft  important  embafjy  from 

hea'ven  ends,    in  telling  fofiua  to  pull  off  his  fhoe.      It  might  as  ivell 

have  told  him  to  pull  off  his  breeches. 

It  is  cert  am,  ho~iX:ever,  that  the  Je-ivs  did  not  credit  e'very  thing  their 

leaders  told  the  ;n,   as  appears  from  the  cavalier  manner  in  ivhich  they 

fpeak  ofMofei  (when  he  teas  gone  into  the  mount.  **  As  for  this  Mofes,fay 

**■  th'.y,  we  v/ct  not  what  is  become  of  him,"  E:i.  chat,  xxxii.  <ver.  i, 

*M 


QO 


PAINE's     WORK 


536  years  before  Chrift.  Ezra  (who,  according  to  the  jo-vACi: 
commentators^  is  the  fame  perfon  as  is  called  Efdras  in  the  Apocrypha) 
was  one  of  the  perfons  who  returnedj  and  who,  it  is  probable,  wrote 
the  account  of  that  aiTair.  Nehemiah,  whofe  book  follows  next  to 
Ezra,  was  another  of  the  returned  perfons,  and  who  it  is  alfo 
probable  wrote  the  account  of  the  fame  aiFair  in  the  bock  that  bears 
his  name.  But  thcfe  accounts  are  nothing  to  us,  nor  to  any  other 
perfon,  unlefs  it  be  to  the  Jews,  as  a  part  of  the  hiftory  of  their 
jiation ;  and  there  is  juil  as  much  of  the  word  of  God  in  thofe  books, 
as  there  is  in  any  of  the  hiftories  of  France,  or  Rapin's  Hiilory  of 
England,  or  the  hiftory  of  any  other  country. 

But  even  in  matters  of  hiftorical  record,  neither  of  thofe  writers 
are  to  be  depended  upon.  In  the  fecond  chapter  of  Ezra  the  writer 
eives  a  lift  of  the  tribes  and  families,  and  of  the  precife  number  of 
fouls  of  each,  that  returned  from  Babylon  to  Jerufalem ;  and  this 
enrollment  of  the  nerfons  fo  returned,  appears  to  have  been  one  of 
the  principal  objects  for  writing  the  book ;  but  in  this  there  is  an 
error  that  deilroys  the  intention  of  the  undertaking. 

The  v/riter  begins  his  enrolment  in  the  following  manner, 
chap.  ii.  ver.  3.  "  The  children  of  Parofn  two  -thoi^and  cm 
"  hundred  feventy  and  four."  Ver.  4.  "  The  children  of  Sh:^ 
"  phatiah  three  hundred  feventy  and  two."  And  in  this  manner 
he  proceeds  through  all  the  families  ;  and  in  the  64th  verfe,  L^ 
makes  a  total,  and  fays,  "  The  whole  congregation  together  v/a:- 
'*  fcrty  and  t-OJO  thovfand,   three  hundred  and  th7'ecfcore." 

But  whoever  will  take  the  trouble  of  calling  up  the  feveral  particu- 
lars willfind  that  the  totaiisbut  29,81 8;  fothat  the  error  is  12,542.* 
What  certainty  can  there  be  in  the  bible  for  anyitiiing  ? 

*   Partlcidars  of  the  families  from  the  fecond  chapter  of  Ezra. 

Chap,  u 
Ver.   3 
4 


i  /  f 


9 

10 

1 1 

12 


?. 

-  2172 

-    sr^ 

-    lis 

-  2812 

-  1254 

-    945 

-    760 

-   642 

-   62J 

-  1222 

^J.577 

Bt.ford. 
1-'.  13  - 

11^577 
'"  666 

14  - 

2056 

15  - 

454 

16  - 

98 

17  - 

■J   »/ 

18  - 

1 12 

19  - 

223 

20  - 

95 

21  - 

123 

22  - 

56 

> 

\  ?l:J£I^lSf]^3\?,i:f£r^^y4^j:_ 


nj.  23 
24 


25  - 

26  - 

27  - 

28  - 

29  - 

30  - 

31  - 

;2  - 


128 

42 

743 
621 
122 
223 

152 

1254 
320 


.'V.  S3 
34 
3S 
36 

37 


725 

345 
3630 

973 
1052 

3S  .  1247 


I   7  61 


19,444 

J;;  6' 


39 
40 

41 

42 

58 
60 


1017 

74 
128 

J39 

39- 
652 


Total  2Q,8i? 


« 


Part  II.        ,    AGE     OF     Pv  E  A  S  O  N.  91 

Nehemiah,  in  like  manner,  gives  a  lid  of  the  returned  families, 
and  of  the  number  of  each  fajrnily.  He  begins,  as  in  Ezra,  by 
faying,  chap,  vii,  ver.  8,  "  The  children  of  Parofh  two  thourani 
"  three  hundred  and- fevcnty-two  :"  and  fo  on  through  all  the 
families.  This  lift  difFers  in  fevcral  of  the  particulars  from  that  of 
Ezra.  In  the  66th  verfe,  Nehemiah  makes  a  total,  and  fays,  a;. 
Ezra  haa  fciid,  "  The  whole  congregation  together  was  f.:trty  and 
*^  two  thoafand,  three  handred  and  threefcore."  But  the  pi^r- 
ticuiars  of  this  lift  make  a  total  but  of  31,089,  fo  that  the  errcr 
here  is  11,271.  Thcfe  writers  may  do  well  enjiigh  for  bible- 
makers  ;  but  not  for  any  thing  where  tradi  and  cxadnefs  is 
neceflary. 

The  next  book  in  courfc  is  the  book  of  Either.  If  Madam 
Eft  her  thought  it  any  honour  to  offer  herfcif  as  a  kept  miftrefs  to 
Ahafnerus,  or  as  a  rival  to  queen  Vaftiii,  who  had  refp.fed  to  conie 
to  a  drunken  king,  in  the  midft  of  a  drunken  company,  to  be  made 
a  ihew  of  (for  the  account  fays,  they  had  been  drinking  feven  days 
and  v/ere  merry),  let  Efther  and  Mordecai  look  to  that.  It  is  na 
bunnefs  of  ours,  at  leaft  it  is  none  of  mine  ;  beiides  which,  the  ftory 
has  a  gleat  deal  the  appearance  of  being  fabulcuG,  and  is  alfo 
anonymous.     I  pafs  on  to  the  book  of  Job, 

The  book  of  Job  differs  in  charafter  from  all  the  books  we  have 
hitherto  pafted  over.  Treachery  and  murder  make  no  part  of  this 
book.  It  is  the  meditations  of  a  mind  llrongly  imprefTed  with  the 
viciifitudes  of  human  life,  and  by  turns  fmking  under,  and  ftruggling 
againft,  the  prefture.  It  is  a  highly  wrought  composition  between 
willing  fubmiirion  and  involuntary  difcontent  ;  and  fhews  man  as 
he  fometimes  is,  more  difpofed  to  be  reiigned  than  he  is  capable  of 
being.  Patience  hns  but  a  fmall  fliare  in  the  charader  of  the 
perfon  of  whom  the  book  treats  ;  on  the  contrary,  his  grief  is  often 
impetuous  ;  but  he  ftill  endeavours  to  keep  a  guard  upon  it,  and 
feems  determined,  in  the  midft  of  accumulating  ills,  to  impofe  upon 
himfelf  the  hard  duty  of  contentment. 

I  have  fpoken  in  a  refpsctful  manner  of  the  book  of  Job  in   the 
former  part  of  the  ^^7-<?  of  Reafony  but  without  knov/ing  at  that  time 
-what  1  have  learned  fmce,  which  is,  that  from  all  the  evidence^  that 
can  be  collected,  the  book  of  Job  does  not  belong  to  the  bible. 

I  havefeen  the  opinion  of  two  Hebrew  commentators,  Abenhezni 
and  Spinofa,  upon  this  fubjec^.  They  both  fay  that  the  book  of 
Job  carries  no  internal  evidence  of  being  an  Hebrew  book  ;  that 
the  g?nri:.  o£  the  compoiiiion,  and  the  drama  of  the  piece,  are  not 

M  2 


32  PAINE's     VvORKS. 

Hebre^v  ;  that  it  has  been  tranflated  from  another  language,  into 
Hfcbrev/  ;  2nd  that  the  autho^.  of  the  book  was  a  Gentile ;  that  the 
chiiracter  reprefented  under  the  name  of  Satan  (which  is  the  £r{l  and 
cnly  time  this  name  is  micntioned  in  the  bible)  does  not  correfpoDd 
to  any  Hebrew  idea;  and. that  the  two  convocations  which  the 
Deity  is  fuppofed  to  have  mude  of  th.ofe  whom  the  poem  calls 
fons  of  God,  and  the  familiarity  v/hich  this  fuppofed  Satan  is 
ftated  to  have  with  the  Deity,  are  in  the  fame  cafe. 

It  may  alfo  be  obfervcd,  that  the  book  flicv/s  itfelf  to  be  the 
produdion  of  a  mind  cultivated  in  fcience,  which  the  Jews,  fo  far 
from  being  famous  for,  were  very  ignorant  of.  The  allulions  to 
cbjefts  of  natural  philofcphy  are  frequent  and  ftrong,  and  are  of  a 
different  cad  to  any  thing  in  the  books  known  to  be  Hebrew. 
The  allronomical  namics  Pleiades,  Orion,  and  Ardurus,  are  Greek, ^^ 
r.nd  not  Hebrew  names  ;  Lnd  as  it  does  not  appear  from  any  thing 
that  is  to  be  found  in  the  bible,  that  the  Jews  knew  any  thing  of 
ailroncmiy,  or  that  they  lludied  it,  they  had  no  tranflation  for  thofe 
p.ames  into  their  own  language,  but  adopted  the  names  as  they  found 
them  in  the  poem. 

That  the  Jews  did  tranflate  the  literary  produftions  of  the 
Gentile  nations  into  the  Hebrew  language,  and  mix  them  with  their 
own,  13  not  a  miatter  of  doubt.  The  ^iH  chapter  of  Proverbs  is 
an  evidence  of  this.  It  is  there  faid,  ver.  i.  The  ^jjords  of  king  '  i 
Lenwily  the  prophecy  njjhich  his  mother  taught  him.  This  verfe 
fiands  as  a  preface  to  the  proverbs  that  follow,  and  which  are  not  the 
proverbs  of  Solomon,  but  of  Lemuel :  and  this  Lemuel  was  not 
one  of  the  kings  of  Ifrael,  nor  of  Judah,  but  of  fome  other  country, 
and  ccnfcquently  a  Gentile.  The  Jews,  however,  have  adopted 
his  proverbs ;  and  as  they  cannot  give  any  account  who  the  author 
of  the  book  of  Job  was,  nor  how  they  came  by  the  book,  and  as  it 
differs  in  charafter  from  the  Hebrew  writings,  and  fiands  totally 
unconnected  with  every  other  book  and  chapter  in  the  bible  before^ 
it,  and  after  it,  it  has  all  the  circumftantial  evidence  of  being 
orieinallv  a  book  of  the  Gentiles.* 

*  ^I he  prayer  knc<vn  by  the  name  f>f  Augur's  prayer,;  in  the   ^oth 

chapter  of  Proverbs^    wtmediately  preceding  the  Pro-x:erhi  of  Lemmlj 

yyd  I'jhUh  is  the  on!yfe?7fbley   and  ivell  conceinjed,   a?id  nvell  expyejjedf 

■"*'^«^|^^'  bible y  hcs  much  the  appearance  of  being  a  prayer  taken 

frQ?n  tb^^We^^s.      The  name  of  Augur  occurs  en  no  other  cccafon  than 

this;  and  he  is  introduced  J   together  <with  the  prayer  afcnbed. to  hi-^Ky  in 


Part  II.  A  G  E     O  P     R  E  A  S  O  N.  93 

The  bible-makers,  and  thafe  regulators  of  time,  the  bibL-chio- 
nologifts,  appear  to  have  been  at  a  lofs  where  to  place,  and  ho\v  to 
dirpofc  of",  the  book  of  Job  ;  for  it  contains  no  one  hifVo^ical 
circumftance,  nor  allufion  to  any,  that  might  ferve  to  deterniine  its 
place  in  the  bible.  But  it  would  not  have  anfvvered  the  purpofc 
of  thefe  men  to  have  informed  the  woiid  of  their  ionorance  ;  and 
therefore  they  have  affixed  to  it  the  era  of  1520  years  before 
Chrift,  which  is  during  the  tim.e  the  Ifraelites  v/ere  in  Eoypt;  and 
for  which  they  have  juft  as  much  authority,  and  no  more,  tiian  I 
fliould  have  for  faying  it  was  a  thoufand  years  before  that  period. 
The  probability,  however,  is,  that  it  is  older  than  any  b?yok  in  the 
bible  ;  and  it  is  the  only  one  that  can  be  read  without  indignation  or 
difguit. 

We  knew  nothing  of  what  the  ancient  Gentile  world  (as  it  is 
called)  was  before  the  time  of  the  Jews,  whofe  practice  has  been  to 
calumniate  and  blacken  the  charadter  of  all  other  nations;  and  it  is 
from  the  Jewifli  accounts  that  v/e  have  learned  to  call  them  heathen. 
But  as  far  as  we  know  to  the  contrary,  they  were  a  juft  and  a  moral 
people,  and  not  addided,  like  the  Jews,  to  cruelty  and  revenge,  but 
of  whofe  profefTion  of  faith  we  are  unacquainted.  It  appears  to  have 
been  their  cuftom  to  perfonify  both  virtue  and  vice  by  ftauus  and 
im.ages,  as  is  done  now-a-days  both  by  ftatuary  and  by  paintirig  ; 
but  it  does  not  follow  from  this,  that  they  worflilp|:ed  them  any 
more  than  we  do.     I  pafs  on  to  the  book  of 

Psalms,  of  which  it  is  not  neceflary  to  make  much,  observation. 
Some  of  them  are  moral,  and  others  are  very  revengeful,  and  the 
greater  part  relates  to  certain  local   circumftances  of  the   IcwiCi 

the  fame  manner y  and  nearly  hi  the  fame  ivords,  thai  Leriiael  OrU-d  lu 
proverbs  are  hitroduced  tn  the  chapter  that  foUo^-ivs.  The  fir  ft  <^)erfe  c^ 
the  iQlh  chapter  fay::  *'*  The  words  of  Augur,  tl:e  fon  of  Jakch 
even  the  prophecy."  Here  the  ^vord  prophecy  js  ifd  ^u;:ih  the  fain  e 
apphcatijH  it  has  iK.the  following  chapter  of  Lemuel,  nnconnccicd^jc'ith 
any  thing  of  predldion.  The  prayer  of  Augur  7S  in  the  Sih  and  gth 
rjerf-. — '*  Remove  far  from  me  vanity  and  lies;  give  me  neither 
riches  nor  poverty,  but  feed  mc  with  food  convenient  for  mc ;  left- 1 
tc  full  and  deny  thee,  and  fay,  who  is  the  Lord  ?  or  led  I  be  poor 
and  fleal,  and  take  the  name  of  ray  God  in  vain?  This  has  not  any  of 
the  narks  cf  being  a  JeiviJ/j  prayer;  for  the  Jt-^v^  7:e^er  prayed  but 
ivhen  they  nxere  in  trouble;  and  ne^'er  for  any  thing  hut  viifoiy^ 
*V(n seance  or  riches. 


94  PAlNE's     WORKS. 

nation  at  the  time  they  v/ere  written,  with  which  \^t  have  nothing 
to  do.  It  is,  however,  an  error  or  an  impoiitior;  to  call  them  the 
Pfaims  of  David.  They  are  a  colleclion,  as  fong  books  are  now- 
a-days,  from  dirferent  fong- writers,  who  lived  at  different  times. 
The  137th  Pfaim  could  not  have  been  written  till  more  than  four 
hundred  years  afcer  the  time  of  David,  becaufe  it  is  vvritten  in  com- 
memoration of  an  event,  the  captivity  of  the  Jews  in  Babylo-n, 
which  did  not  happen  till' that  diftance  of  time.  £ji  the  rivers  of 
Babylon  ive/at  do'-zvn  ;  jea,  nve  <xvept  -vchi-i  <-jve  reTvemhered  Z'tcn.  We 
hanged  our  harps  tipoji  the  ivUlo'wSy  in  the  in'idjt  thereof ;  for  there 
they  that  earned  us  a^way  captz've,  required  of  us  a  fovg,  faying^  fntg 
us  one  of  the  fo?2gs  of  Zic7t,"  As  a  man  would  fay  to  an  American, 
or  to  a  Frenchman,  or  to  an  Englifhman,  fmg  us  one  of  your 
American  fcngs,  or  )'our  French  iongs,  or  your  Englifh  fongs. 
This  remark  with  refpe(^l  to  the  time  this  pfalm  was  written,  is  of 
no  other  ufe  thsn  to  fhev/  (among  others  already  mentioned)  the 
general  impofstion  the  world  has  been  under  with  refpedt  to  the 
authors  of  the  bible.  No  regard  has  been  paid  to  time,  pl2.ce,  and 
circumftance,  and  the  names  of  perfons  have  been  afnxed  to  the 
feveral  books,  which  it  was  as  impoihble  they  fhould  write,  as 
that  a  man  fhould  walk  in  proceiiion  at  his  own  funeral. 

The  booic  or  Provep.es.  Thefe,  like  the  Pfaims,  are  a  col- 
lecflion,  and  that  from  authors  belonging  to  other  nations  than 
thofe  of  the  Jevv'ifh  nation,  as  I  have  fhewn  in  the  obfervations  upon 
the  book  of  Job  :  bef.des  which,  fome  of  the  proverbs  afciibed  to 
Solomon  did  not  appear  till  two  hundred  and  fifty  vears  after  the 
"death  of  Solomon  ;  for  it  is  faid  in  the  lirft  verfe  oi  the  25th 
chapter,  ^^  Theje  are  alfo  proijerbs  of  Solonon^  vjhlch  the  7Ji£7i  of 
"  Hezeklahy  king  of  Judahy  copied  out."  It  was  two  hundred  and 
tihy  }-e3r,s  from  the  time  of  Soloruon  to  the  time  of  Hezekiah. 
V/hen  a  man  is  famous,  and  his  name  is  abroad,  he  is  made  the 
putative  father  of  things  he  never  faid  or  did,  and  this  moft 
piobably  has  been  the  cafe  with  Solomon.  It  appears  to  have 
been  the  fafiiion  of  that  day  to  make  proverbs,  as  it  is  now 
to  m,ake  Jeji-hocksy  and  father  them  upon  thofe  who  never  faw 
them. 

The.  book  of  Ecrlefafesy  or  the  Preccher^  is  alfo  afcribed  to 
Solomon,  and  that  with  much  reafon,  if  not  with  truth.  It  is 
written  as  the  fclitary  rcfleclions  iof  a  worn-out  debauchee,  fuch 
as  Soio-iwen  was^  who  Icoking  back  on  fcenes  he  can  no  longer 
cnioy,- crirc-   out,    all  h   '-vanity  f    A   gr^at  deal  of  the  inctaphqr. 


Part  II.  A  G  E     O  F     R  E  A  S  G  N,  95  - 

and  of  the  fentiinent,  is  obfcure,  moll  probably  by  tranflationj  but 
enough  is  left  to  fhew  they  were  fcrongly  pointed  in  the  original.^' 
From  what  is  tranfmitted  to  us  of  the  charadcr  of  Solomon,  he 
was  witty,  oflentatious,  diiToiute,  and  at  lafl  melancholy.  He 
lived  fail,  and  died,  tired  of  the  world,  at  the  age  of  fifty-eight 
years.:. 

Seven  hundred  wives,  and  three  hundred  concubines,  are  v/orfe 
than  none  ,  and  hovv-ever  it  may  carry  with  it  the  appearance  of 
heightened  enjoyment,  it  defeats  all  the  lelicity  of  affe*!:lion,  by 
leaving  it  no  point  to  fix  upon.  Divided  love  is  never  happy.  This 
>yas  tlie  -cafe  with  Solomon,  and  if  he  could  not,  with  all  his  pre- 
tenfions  to  wifdom,  difcover  it  before  hand,  he  merited,  unpitied, 
the  mortification  he  afcerwards  endured.  In  this  point  of  viev/  his 
preaching  is  unneceilary,  becaufe  to  know  the  confequences,  it  is 
only  neceilary  to  know  the  cafe.  Seven  hundred  wives,  and  three 
hundred  concubines  would  have  ilood  in  place  of  the  whole  book. 
It  was  needlefs  after  this  to  fay,  that  all  was  vanity  and  vexation 
of  fpirit ;  for  it  is  impofiible  to  derive  happinefs  from  the  company 
of  thofc  whom  we  deprive  of  happinei's. 

To  be  happy  in  old  age,  it  19  necelTary  that  we  accuflom  ourfelves 
to  objeds  that  can  pccompany  the  mind  all  the  way  through  life, 
and  that  we  take  the  reil  as  good  in  their  day.  The  mere  man  of 
pleafure  is  miferable  in  old  age,  and  the  mere  drudge  in  bufinefs 
is  but  little  better :  v/hereas  natural  philofophy,  mathematical,  and 
mechanical  fcience,  are  a  continual  fource  of  tranquil  pleaiare  ;  aod 
in  fpite  of  the  gloomy  dogmas  of  priefts  and  of  ifuperftition,  the 
ftudy  of  thofe  things  is  the  lludy  of  the  true  theology.  It  teaqhcs 
man  to  know  and  to  admire  the  Creator,  for  the  principles  of 
fcience  are  in  the  creation,  and  are  unchangeable,  and  of  divine 
origin. 

Thofe  who  knew  Benjamin  Franklin  will  recollecl  that  his  mind 
was  ever  young ;  his  temper  ever  ferene.  Science,  that  never  grows 
^rey,  was  always  his  miftrefs.  Fie  was  never  without  an  objerl ; 
for  when  we  ceafe  to  have  an  objed:,  we  become  like  an  invalid  ^n 
an  hofpital  waiting  for  death. 

Solomon's  Songs,  amorous  and  foolifh  enough,  but  which 
wrinkled  fanaticifm,  has  called  divine.  The  compilers  of  the 
bible  have  placed  thofe  fongs  after  the  book  of  Ecclefiaftes ;  and 

*  Thofe  that  look  out  of  the  i>Jindoto  ]/halI ■  he  dark^TteJ;  is  an 
obfcurc  figure  in  tranflatioQ.  foi  iofs  of  fight 


/  ^ 

90  PAINE's     W.ORKS. 

the  chronologiils  hnve  afHx-ed  to  th(5m  the. era  of  1G14  years  before 
Ch.Fi-{},  at  which  time  Solomon,  according  to  the  fame  chronology, 
was  nineteen  years  of  age,  and  was  then  forming  his  feraglio  of 
wives  and  concubines.  The  bible-makers  and  the  chronologills 
fnould  have  manap-cd  this  matter  a  little  better,  and  either  have 
{'did  nothing  about  the  time,  or  chofen  a  time  lefs  inconfiftent  with 
the  fuppafed  divinity  of  thofe  fongs ;  for  Solomon  was  then  in  the 
honey-moon  of  o^e  tho?{fand  debaucheries. 

It  ihouM  aifo  have  occurred  to  them,  that  as  he  wrote,  if  he 
did  write,  the  book- of  Ecclehaftes  long  after  thefe  fongs,  and  in 
which  he  exclaims,  that  all  is  vanity  and  vexation  of  fpiiit,  that 
he  ..included   thofe  fongs   in  that  defcription.     This  is    the  more 

.  probable,  bccaufe  he  fays,  or  fomebody  for  him,  Eccleliaftes,  chap^ 
ii,'  ver.  8.  /  got  me  me?/-Jing€rs  and  ivovien-Jingen  (moft  probably 
to  fing  thofe  fongs)  and  mujhal  hiftrufnefiti  of  all fortZy  and  behold, 

•  (vet,  II;)  all  n.K)as  nJwiity  ajid  'vexat'icn  of  fp'ir'it.  The  compilers, 
however,  .have  done  their  work  but  by  halves ;  for  as  they  have 
given  U5  the  fongs,  they  ihould  have  given  us  the  tunes  that  we 
mi2;ht  fm^:  them. 

The  books  called  the  books  of  the  Prophets  fill  up  all  the 
reriiaining  part  of  the  bible.  They  are  fixteen  in  number,-  beginning 
with  Ifaiah  and  ending  with  Malachi,  of  which  I  have  given  a 
iiil  in  the  obfervations  upon  Chronicles.  Of  thefe  fixteen  prophets, 
all  of  v/hom,  except  the  three  laft,  lived  within  the  time  the  books  of 
Kings  and  Qhronicles  were  written,  two  only,  Ifaiah  and  Jeremiah, 
ar^  mentioned,  in-  the  hiftory  of  tlK)fe  books.  I  fliall  begin  with 
th'bfe  T^vby  refer ving  what  I  have  to  fay,  on  the  general  character 
of  the  men  called  prophets,   to  another  part  of  the  work. 

Whoever  .will  take  the  trouble  of  reading  the  book  afcribed  to 
Ifai?.h,  will  find  it  one  of  the  mcft  wild  and  diforderly  compofitions 
ever  put '.together.  -It  has  neither  beginning,  middle,  nor  end; 
and  except  ii.  fhort  hiftorical  part,  and  a  itw  Iketches  of  hiftory  in 
two  or  three  of  the  firil  chapters,  is  one  continued  incoherent  bom- 
baflical.'rant,:  full  of  extravagant  metaphor,  without  application, 
and  deftitute  of  meaning.  A  fchool-boy  would  fcarcely  have  been 
cxcufabic  for  writing  fach  ftiiffij'  It  is  (at  leaft  in  tranfiation)  that 
kind.of  7campofition  and  falfe  tafte,  that  is  properly  called  profe 
run  mad;-.". 

The  hiftorical  part  begins  at  the  36th  chapter,  and  is  continued 
to  the  end"  of  the  39th  chapter.  It  relates  Tome  matters  that  are 
faid  to.  have  pafiVd  durkig  t-he  reign  of  Hczekiah>-  king  of  Juda'a, 


Part  IL  A  G  E    O  F    R  E  A  S  O  N.  97 

at  which  time  Ifaiah  lived.     This  fragment  of  hiftory  begins  and 
ends  abruptly.     It  has  not  the  lead  connexion  with  the  chapter 
that  precedes   it,  nor  with   that  which  follows  it,  nor  with  any- 
other  in  the  book.     It  is  probable  that  Ifaiah  wrote  this  fragment 
himfelf,  becaufe   he  was  an  adtor  in  the  circumftances  it  treats  of^ 
but  except  this  part,  there  are  fcarcely  two  chapters  that  havc^aiiy 
connexion  with  each  other.     One  is  entitled,  at  the  beginning  of 
the   firft  verfe,  the  Burden  of  Babylon ;  another,    the  Burden  of 
Moab;  another,  the  Burden  of  Damafcus ;   another,  the  Burden  of 
Egypt ;  another,  the  Burden  of  the  Defart  of  the  Sea  ;  another,  the 
Burden  of  the  Valley  of  Vifion:  as  you  would  fay,  the  ftory  of  the 
■  knight  of  the  burning  mountain ;  the  ftory  of  Cinderilla,  or  the  glaffen 
flipper ;  the  ftory  of  the  lleeping  beauty  in  the  wood,  &c.  &c. 

,  I  have  already  Ihewn  in  the  inilance  of  the  two  laft  verfes  of 
Chronicles,  and  the  three  firft  in  Ezra,  that  the  compilers  of  the 
bible  mixed  and  confounded  the  writings  of  different  authors  with 
each  other;  which  alone,  v/ere  there  no  other  caufe,  is  fulScient 
todeftrpy  the  authenticity  of  any  compilation,  becaufe  it  is  more 
than  prefumptive  evidence,  that  the  compilers  are  ignorant  who 
the  authors  were.  A  very  glaring  inllance  of  this  occurs  in  the 
book  afcribed  to  liaiah.  The  latter  part  of  the  44.th  chapter,  and 
the  beginning  of  the  45th,  fo  far  from  having  been  written  by 
Ifaiah,  could  only  have  been  written  by  fome  perfon  who  lived  at 
leaft  an  hundred  and  fifty  "years  after  Ifaiah  was  dead. 

Thefe  chapters  are  a  compliment  to  Cyrusy   who  permitted  the 

Jews   to  return  to  Jerufalem  from  the  Babylonian  captivity,    to 

rebuild  Jerufalem  and  the  Temple,  as  is  ftated  in  Ezra.     The  laft 

verfe  of  the   44th    chapter   and  the  beginning  of  the    45th,    are 

in  the  following  words  :   That  faith  of  CyniSy  he  is  my  fhepherd  and 

fhall  perform  all  my  pleafare  :  even  fay  in j  to  feru/alem,   Thou  fhalt 

be  built ;    and  to  the    Temple,    thy  foundation  fhall    be  laid,      Thui 

*     faith  the  Lord  to  his  anointed,    to  Cyrus,   ^whofe   right  hand  I  ba-ve 

^       holden  to  fuhdue  nations  before  him^  and  I  <will  loofe  the  loins  of  kings 

\      to  open  before  him  the  tixjo  hcved gateSy  and  the  gates  fhall  not  he  fhut, 

jsj       /  njjill  go  before  thee,    ^c. 

A         ^  What  audacity  of  church  and  prieftly  ignorance  it  is  to  impofc 

>^     this  book  upon  the  world  as  the  writing  of  Ifaiah !   when  Ifaiah, 

^     according  to  their  own  chronology-  died  foon  after  the  death  of 

Hezekiah,  which  Was  fix  hundred  and  ninety-eight  years  before 

Chrift ;  and  the  decree  of  Cyrus,  in  favour  of  the  Jews  returning  to 

4      Jerufalem,  wasj  according  to  the  fame  chronology,  536  years  beibrc 

*N 


98-  PAiNE's   Works; 

Chriil,  which  is  a  diftance  of  time  between  the'tw©  of  "one  hundred 
and  fixty-two  years.  I  do  not  fiippofe  that  the  compilers  of  the 
bible  made  thefe  books,  but  rather  that  they  picked  "up  fome  loofe 
anonymous  elTays,  and  put  therii  together  under  the  names  of  fucli 
authors  as  befl  fuited  their  purpofe.  They  have  encouraged  the"' 
impofition,  ivhich  is  next  to  inventing  it ;  for  it  was  impoffible  but 
they  muli  have  obferved  it. 

When  we  ftt^  the  ftudied  craft  of  the  fcripture- makers,  in  making  ] 
every  part  of  this  romantic  book  of  fchool-boy's  eloquence,  bend  to 
the  monllrous  idea  of  a  fon  of  God,  begotten  by  a  ghoil  on  the 
body  of  a  virgin,  there  is  no  imposition  we  are  not  jufcified  in 
fufpcding  them  of.  Every  phrafe  and  circumftance  are  marked  with 
the  barbarous  hand  of  fuperftitious  torture,  and  forced  into  meanings 
it  was  impoflibie  they  they  could  have.  The  head  of  every  chapter, 
and  the  top  of  every  page,  are  blazoned  with  the  names  of  Chrift 
and  the  church,  that  the  unweary  reader  might  fuck  in  the  error 
before  he  beean  to  read. 

Bchotdy  a''virginjhall cori'cev^ey  and  hear  afofii  Ifaiah,  chap,  vii, 
ver.  14..  has  been  interpreted  to  mean  the  perfon  called  Jefus  Chrift, 
and  his  mother  Mary,  and  has  been  echoed  through  Chnftendom 
for  mere  than  a  thoufand  years  :  and  fuch  has  been  the  rage  of  this 
opinion,  that  f-<rcely  a  fpot  in  it  but  has  been  ftained  with  blood, 
arid  marked  with  defolation  in  confequence  of  it.  Though  it  is  not 
my  intention  to  enter  into  controverfy  on  fubje<fl:s  of  this  kind,  but 
to  confine  myfelf  to  fliew  that  the  bible  is  fpurious,  and  thus,  by 
taking  away  the  foundation,  to  overthrow  at  once  the  whole  • 
llrufture  of  fuperftition  raifed  thereon  ;  I  will,  however,  ftbp  a" 
moment  toexpofe  the  fallacious  application  of  this  paffage. 

Whether  Ifaiah  was  playing  a  trick  with  Ahaz,  king  of  Judah, 
to^  whom  this  paflage  is  fpoken,  is  no  bufmefs  of  mine.  I  mean  only 
tofliew  the  mifapplication  of  the  paffage,  and  that  it  has  no  more 
reference  to  Chrift  and  his  mother,  than  it  has  to  me  and  my  mother. 

The  ftory  Is  fimply  this : — The  king  of  Syria,  and  the  king  of* 
Ifrael,  (Thave  already  mentioned  that  the  Jews  were  fplit  into  two 
nations,  one  of  which  was  called  Judah,  the  capital  of  which  was 
Jerufalem,  and  the  other  Ifrael)  made  war  jointly  againft  Ahaz, 
king  of  Judah,  and  marched  their  armies  towards  Jerufalem.  Ahaz 
and  his  people  became  alarmed,  and  the  account  fays,  ver.  2. 
**  ^heir  hearts  njuere  mo'ved  as  the  trees  of  the  ivood  are  moved  ivlth  the 
"  'rtulnd." 

in' this  fituation  of  tilings,  Ifaiah  addreifes  himfelf  to  Ahaz,  and 


?ART  II.  A  G  E    O  F    -RE  A  S  O  N.  99 

iilTures   him    In  the   vame  of  the  Lord,   the    cant,  phrafe  pf  all  the 
prophets,  that  thefe  two  kings  ihould  not  fuccecd  againft  him  j  and 
lo  fatisfy  Ahaz  that  this  fhould  be  the  cafe,  tells  him  to  aflc  a  f|gn  : 
this,  the  .apcount  fays,  Ahaz  declined  doing,  giving  as  a.reafon,  that 
he  would  not  tempt  the  Lord  ;   upon  which,   Ifaiah,    who  is .  the 
fpeaker,  fays,  vcr.  14.   "  Therefore,   the  Lord   himfclf  iliall  give 
you  a  f)gn.  Behold,  a  <virginjhall  concei've  and  bear  a  fen;''  and.  the 
1 6th  verfe  fays,   **  Atid  before  this  child Jhall  hio'-oj_  to  refnf^  jhe^  e^il 
**■  and   chufe  the  good,  the  land  'which   thou   abhor reji  (or  .dreadeft,   ^ 
*'  meaning  Syria  and   the  kingdom  of  Ifrael)  f^all  be  forfaken   of     \ 
**  both  her  khigs,"     Here  then  was  the  fign,   and  the  time  limited      ^ 
for  the  completion  of  the  aifurance  or  prornife  ;  namely,  before  this        J 
child  {hall  know  to  refufe  tlie  evil  and  choqifc  the  good.  ,        V' 

Ifaiah  having  committed  himfelf  thus  far,  it  became  necell»iry..to 
him,   in  order  to  avoid  the   imputation  of  being   a  falfe  prophet,     p'. 
and  the'confequences  thereof,  to  take  meafures   to   make   this  lign       ^ 
appear.     It  certainly  was  not  a  difficult  thing  in  any  time  of  the  Hf^  , 
world,  to  find  a  girl  with  child,  or  to  make  her  {o  ;  and   perhaps     '^ 
Ifaiah   knew  of  one  before  hand  ;  for    I  do  not   fuppofe  that  jthe    ■    'i 
prophets  of  that  day  were  any  more  to  be  trufted  than  the  priefts  of 
this.     Ee  that,   however,  as  it  may,   he  fays  in  the  next  chapter, 
ver.  2,   "  And  I  took  unto  me  faithful  witneffes  to  record,    Uriah 
"  the  prieft,   and  Zechariah  the  fon  of  Jeberechiah,  and  /  ijoent 
**  unto  the  prophetefs,  andfhe  concel'ved  and  bare  afo7i,^' 

Here  then  is  the  whole  (lory,  foolifh  as  it  is,  of  this  child  and 
this  virgin.  And  it  is  upon  the  bare-faced  perverfion  of  this 
ilory,  that  the  book  of  Matthew,  and  the  impudence  and  fordid 
intereft  of  priefts  in  later  times,  have  founded  a  theory  which  they 
call  the  gofpel ;  and  have  applied  this  ftory  to  lignify  the  perfon 
they  call  Jefus  Glirift,  begotten,  they  fay,  by  a  ghoft  whom  they 
call  holy,  on  the  body  of  a  v/oman  engaged  in  marriage,  and  after- 
wards married,  whom  they  call  a  virgin,  (txtw  hundred  years  after 
this  foolifh  ftory  was  told:  a  theory  which,  fpeaking  for  myfel^ 
I  hefitate  not  to  believe  and  to  fay,  is  as  fabulous  and  as  falfe  ^s 
God  is  true»* 


r. 


*  In  the  \\th  "cerfe  of  the  "Jth  chapter,  h  is  f aid,  that  the  child 
/hould  be  called  Immanucl.  But  thii  7iame  njoas  notpi'ven  to  either  of 
the  children,  other^wifc  than  as  a  charaBer  <u;hich  the  'vuordfa7iifes^ 
That  of  the  prophetefs  t'jas  called  Maher-JhalaUha/hmh^^  and  that 
9f  Mary  rj^as  called  "Jefus^    " 

^         '  N    2 


leo  PAINE^s     WORKS. 

But  to  (hew  the  impofition  2nd  falfliood  of  Ifaiah,  we  have  oqly' 
to  attend  to  the  feq'iel  of  this  ftory,  which  though  it  is  pafTed  over 
in  filence  in  the  book  of  Ifaiah,is  related  in  the  28th  chapter  of 
2  Chronicles,  and  which  is,  that  inflead  of  thefe  two  kings  failing 
in  their  attempt  againft  Ahaz,  king  of  Judah,  as  Ifaiah  had  pre- 
tended toforetel  in  the  name  of  the  Lord,  x\tj  Jucceeded :  Ahaz 
was  defeated  and  dsftroyed,  an  hundred  and  twenty  thoufand  of  his 
people  were  llaughtered,  Jerufalein  v/as  plundered,  and  two  hundred 
thoufand  women,  and  Tons  and  daughters,  carried  into  captivity. 
Thus  much  for  this  lying  prophet  and  impoftor,  Ifaiah,  and  the 
book  of  falfhoods  that  bears  his  name.     I  pafs  on  to  the  book  of 

Jeremiah.  This  prophet,  as  he  is  called,  lived  in  the  time 
that  Nebuchadnezzar  beiieged  Jerufalem.,  in  the  reign  of  Zedekiah, 
the  laft  king  of  Judah,  and  the  fufpicion  was  ilrong  againfl:  him, 
that  he  was  a  traitor  in  the  intereft  of  Nebuchadnezzar.  Every 
things  relating  to  Jeremiah  {hews  him  to  have  been  a  man  of  an 
equivocal  characfler.  In  his  metaphor  of  the  potter  and  the  clay, 
chap.  xiii.  he  guards  his  progncilications  in  fuch  a  crafty  manner, 
as  alv/ays  ta leave  himfelf  a  door  to  efcape  by,  in  cafe  the  event 
fnould  be  contrary  to  v/hat  he  had  predidled. 

In  the  7th  and  8  th  verfes  of  that  chapter,  he  makes  the  Almighty 
to  fay,  "  At  what  inilant  I  Ihali  fpeak  concerning  a  nation,  and 
*^  concerning  a  kingdom,  to  pluck  up,  and  to  pull  down  and  deftroy 
"  it  ;  if  that  nation  agalnfl  whom  I  have  pronounced,  turn  from 
"  their  evil,  /  n/j'ill  repent  me  of  the  e^i!  that  I  thought  to  do  jmto 
^^  them."  Here  was  a  provifo  againft  one  fide  of  the  cafe  ;  now 
for  the  other  fide. 

Verfes  9  and  10.  "  At  what  inilant  I  fhall  fpeak  concerning  a 
*^  nation,  and  concerning  a  kingdom,  to  build  and  to  plant  it,  if 
"  it  do  e^'il  in  my  fight,  that  it  obey  not  my  voice,  then  /  ^Ul 
"  repent  me  of  the  good  ivhereivlth  I  /aid  I  njoould  benejit  them,'* 
Here  is  a  provifo  againft  the  other  fide;  and  according  to  this  plan 
of  prophefying,  a  prophet  could  never  be  wrong,  however  miftaken 
the  Almighty  might  be.  This  fort  of  abfurd  fubterfuge,  .-ind  this 
manner  of  fpeaking  of  the  Almighty,  as  one  v/ould  fpeak  of  a  man, 
is  confiflent  with  nothing  but  the  ftupidity  of  the  bible. 

As  to  the  authenticity  of  the  book,  it  is  only  neceffary  to  read  it, 
in  order  to  decide  pofitively,  that,  though  fome  paffages  recorded 
therein  may  have  been  fpoken  by  Jeremiah,  he  is  not  the  author  of 
the  book.  The  hiilorical  parts,  if  they  can  be  called  by  that  name, 
are  in  the  moft   confufed  condition.     The  fame,  events  are  feveraA 


Part  11.  AGE     OF     R^E  A  S  O  N.  loi 

times  repeated,  and  th?.t  in  a  manner  different,  a'nd  ibmetimes  in 
contradi(5lion  to  each  other,  and  this  diforder  riins  even*  to  the 
lad  chapter,  where  the  hiftory,  upon  which  the  greater  paft  of  the 
book  has  been  employed,  begins  anew,  and  ends  abruptly.'  'T\\t 
book  has  all  the  appearance  of  being  a  medley  of  unconne'!l:ed 
anecdotes,  refpeding  perfons  and  things  of  that  time,  collefted 
together  in  the  fame  rude  manner  as  if  the  various  and  contradictory 
accounts  that  are  to  be  found  in  a  bundle  of  newfpapers  refpediing 
perfons  and  things  of  the  prcfcnt  day,  were  put  together  without 
date,  order,  or  explanation,  I  will  give  two  or  three  examples  of 
this  kind.  ■ " 

It  appears  from  the  account  of  the  37th  chapter,  that-th-e-  a-rniy 
of  Nebuchadnezzar,  who  are  called  the  army  of  the  Chaldeans,  had 
beiieged  Jerufalem  fome  time,  and  on  their  hearing  that- the -arm)' 
of  Pharoah  of  Egypt  were  marching  againil  them,  they  raifed  the 
iiege  and  retreated  for  a  time.  It  may  here  be  proper  to  mention, 
in  order  to  underftand  this  confded  llory,.  that  Nebucha-diir7,74Y 
had  beiieged  and  taken  Jerufalem  during  the  reign  of  Jehoi;ikin» 
the  predecefTor  of  Zedekiah,  and  that  it  was  Nebuchadnezzar  who 
had  made  Zedekiah  king,  or  rather  vice-roy  ;  and  that  this^  fccond 
iiege,  of  which  the  book  of  Jeremiah. treats,  was  in-eonfequensc- cf 
the  revolt  of  Zedekiah  againlt:  Nebuchadnezzar,  This  will  in  fcmc 
meafure  account  for  the  fufp?cion  that  aftxes  itfelf  to  J<?tc-.n-ia"h,"  of 
being  a.  traitor,  and  in  the  intereft  of  Nebut-hadnez-aar,'-vv-h€m 
Jeremiah  calls  in  the  43d  chapter,  ver.  10,  the  fervent  of  God. 

The  nth  verfe  of  this  chapter  (the  57th)  fr.rs,  *-  And  ft -came 
"  to  pafs,  thai,  when  the  army  of  the  Chalde.ins  was  bfoke-n  iio 
*'  from  Jerufalem  for  fear  of  Pharaah^s  army,  that  je-remiah- -Vent 
*'  forth  out  of  Jerufalem  to  go  (as  this  account  ftates)  into  the -kn-i 
**  of  Benjamin,  to  feparate  himfelf  thence  in  the  midftot'thepeo]>ie. 
**  And  when  he  was  in  the  gate  of  Benjamin,  a  captain  of  the  wsivd 
'*'  was  there,  whofe  name  was  Irijah,  and  he  took  [eremiah  thtf 
♦'  prophet,  faying,  T/jou  fall^Ji  a^vay  to  the  Chaldeans.  '.  :Theij' 
^'  Jeremiah  faid,  ii  is  falfe^  1  fall  net  a'zvaytothe-CbrddcansJJ----^- 
Jeremiah  being  thus  ftopt  and  accufed,  v/as,  after  being"  examin.ed^ 
committed  to  prifon  on  fufpicicn  of  being  a  traitor,  -.wlier^r'hc 
remdned,  as  is  Hated  in  the  lafl  verfe  of  this  chapter..    ? '-  ^ 

But  the  next  chapter  gives  an  account    of  the  imprifonment  ~  of 
Jereiniah,-  which  has  no  connefiion  with  this  account,  b\it;arcrihe?' : 
his  imprifonment  to  another  circumftance,  and  fir  which  we  maft  go 
back  to  the  2jil  chapter,     Tt  is  there  ftatod,  ver,  i.  That  Zcde- 


.  J02  PAINE's     WORKS. 

•kiah  fentPafnur,  the  fon- of  Melchiah,  and  Zephaniah  the  fon  of 
Maafeiah  the  prief!:,  to  Jeremiah,  to  enquire  of  him  concerning 
Nebuchadnezzar,  whofe  army  was  then  before  Jerufalem  ;  and 
Jeremiahjaid  to  them,  ver.  8,  "  Thus  faith  the  Lord,  Behold  I  (et 
"  before  you  the  way  of  life  and  the  way  of  death.  He  that 
"  abideth  in  this  city,  {hall  die  by  the  fword  and  by  the  famine, 
**  and  by  the  peCcilence,  hut,  he  that  goeth  out  and  falleth  to  the 
**  Chaldeans  that  hejiege  jouy  he  Jhall  Ivve ^  and  his  life  Jhall  be  unttf 
"  hvn  for  a  ^rey." 

This  interview  and  conference  breaks  off  abruptly  at  the  end 
of  the  loth  verfe  of  the  21ft  chapter  ;  and  fuch  is  the  difcrder  of 
this  book,  that  we  have  to  pafs  over  fixteen  chapters  upon  \^arious 
fubjetfts,  in  order  to  'Come  at  the  continuation  and  event  of  this 
conference  ;  ar^i  this  brings  us  to  the  firft  verfe  of  the  38th  chapter, 
as  I  have  juft  mentioned. 

The  3Sth  chapter  opens  with  faying,  "  Then  Shephatiah  the 
*'  fon  of  Mattan,  and  Gedaliah  the  fon  of  Pafhur,  and  Jucal  the 
**  fon  of  Shelemiah,  and  Pafhur  the  fon  of  Malchiah  (here  are 
"  more  perfons  mentioned  than  in  the  21ft  chapter)  heard  the 
**  words  that  Jeremiah  fpoke  unto  the  people  faying,  *^  Thus  faith 
"  the  Lord,  he  that  remav/eth  In  this  citjy  Jhall  die  by  the  fnjoordy  by 
*'  Janii/jey  and  by  the  j.ejlilence  ;  but  he  that  goeth  forth  to  the  Chaldeans 
^^  Jiall  li-ve  ;  for  he  Jhall  haze  his  life  for  a  prcyy  and  Jhall  lin>e" 
(Sivhich  are  the  words  of  the  conference).  **  Therefore  (fay  they 
"  to  Zcdekiah)  we  befeech  thee,  let  this  man  be  put  to  death, 
*'  for  thus  he  ^wtakeneth  the  hands  of  the  men  of  i.ijar  that  remaineth 
*'  ///  thiicityy  arid  the  hands  of  all  the  people  in  fpeakmg  fuch  <words 
*'  unto  them  ;  for  this  man  feekelh  not  the  nvelfare  of  the  people  but  the 
'*  hurt ,-"  and  at  the  6th  verfe  it  is  faid,  *'  Then  they  took  Jere- 
**  miah,   and  put  him  into  the  dungeon  of  Malchiah." 

Thefe  two  accounts  are  different  and  contradidory.  The  one 
afcribes  his  imprifonment  to  his  attempt  to  efcape  out  of  the  city^ 
the  other  to  \\\^  preaching  and prephefytng  in  the  city.  The  one  to 
his  being  feizcdby  the  guard  at  the  gate,  the  other  to  his  being 
accufcd  before  Zcdekiah  by  the  conferees.* 

*  I  objh"oed  i-MO  chapter Sy  l6th  and  l^thy  in  the  ift  hook  of 
Samuely  that  contradict  each  other  <voith  rejped:  to  Da<vidy  and  the  manner 
he  became  acquainted <vjith  Saul,  as  the  ^']th  and  i%th  chapter  of  the 
book  of  Jercfniah  cojitradid  each  other  <wilh  refped  to  the  cauj'e  of 
Jeremtab's  imprifonment^ 


?AB T   IL  A  G  E     O  F    R  E  A  S  O  N.  ]  o;; 

In  the  next  chapter  (the  39th)  we  have  another  inftance  cf  the 
difordered  ftate  of  this  book  ;  for  notwirhftanding  the  fiege  of  the 
city  by  Nebuchadnezzar  has  been  the  fubjecil  of  fevcral  of  the 
preceding  chapters,  particularly  the  37th  and  38th;  the  39th 
chapter  begins  as  if  not  a  word  had  been  faid  upon  the  fubjecl,  and 
as  if  the  reader  was  ftill  to  be  informed  of  every  particular  refpefling 
it ;  for  it  begins  with  faying,  ver.  i,  *^  In  the  ninth  jear  of  Zede- 
*'  kiahy  king  of  yudah^  i7i  the  tenth  month^  came  Nebrichadnezzar, 
^^  king  of  Bahylony  and  all  his  army^  aga'inft  ferifalemy  and  befieged 

In  the  i6th  chapter  of  Samuel^  it  is  f aid,  that  an  e'-vil jpirit  from 
God  troubled  Saul,  and  that  his  fer-vants  ad^'ifed  him  (as  a  remedy  ) 
-''  to  feek  cut  a  ?nan  ivho  -jjas  a  cunning 'player  tipon  the  harp  ;"  and 
^aulfaid,  'ver.  1 7,  ^'  pro'vide  me  noiv  a  7nan  that  can  play  ^vell, 
and  bring  him  to  me,"  Theti  anf^jered  one  of  his  fervants,  atid 
faidy  **  Behold,  I  hat-e  feen  a  fon  of  Jeffe,  the  Eethlehemite,  that  is 
**  cunning  in  playing,  and  a  mighty  man,  arid  a  man  of  nvar,  and 
^*  prudent  in  matters,  and  a  comely  perfon,  and  the  Lord  is  --vjith  him  : 
"  ^wherefore  Saul  fen  t  ?neffengers  unto  J<ffey  and  faid^  fend  me  Dwvid 
*'  thy  fon.  And  ('ver,  21.  J  Da^vid  came  to  Saul,  and  food  before  hiniy 
**  and  he  lo'ved  him  greatly,  and  he  becamehis  armour  bearer;  and-jjhen 
"  the  e~oil fpirit  from  God  n.vas  upon  Saul,  f'veri'^.J  Da^jid  took  hii 
**  harp,  and  played  ivith  his  hand,  and  Saul  ivas  refrejhed,  and 
'^  ivas  <u!ell." 

But  the  next  chapter  fi  jj  gi<ves  an  account,  all  different  to  this, 
of  the  manner  that  Saul  and  David  became  acquainted.  Here  it  is 
afcribed  to  Da-Jid's  encounter  nvith  Goliah,  i/jhen  David  ivas  fent  by 
his  father  to  carry  provifion  to  his  brethren  in  the  camp,  hi  the  ccth 
•verfe  of  this  chapter,  it  is  f aid,  ^^  And  ^jjhen  Saul  fav^Dwuid  go 
**  forth  againji  the  Philijiine  f  Goliah  J  he  faid  to  Abner,  the  captain 
'•  of  the  hoji,  Abner,  ivhofe  fon  is  this  youth  F  And  Abner  faid,  as 
*^  thy  foul  liveth,  O  king,  I  camiot  tell.  And  the  king  faid,  enquire 
"  thou  ivhofe  fan  the  firipling  is.  And  as  David  returned  from  the 
**  flaughter  of  the  Bhilijiine,  Abner  took  him  and  brought  him  before 
**  Saul,  luith  the  head  of  the  Philijiine  in  his  hand.  And  Saul  faid 
*'  unto  him,  nohofe  fon  art  thou,  thou  young  man  ?  And  David  anf^vered, 
"  /  am  the  fon  of  thy  fcrvant  Jejfe,  the  Eethlehemite,"  Thefe  tvtJO 
accounts  belie  each  other,  bccaufe  each  of  them  fuppcfes  Saul  and 
David  not  to  have  kno-~vn  each  other  before.  This  bock*  the  bibU,  is 
too  ridiculous  eve7i  for  criticifm. 


104-  PAlNK's     WORKS. 

But  tlie  inftancc  in  the  kil  chapter  (the  5  2d)  is  fiiil  more  glaring : 
for  though  the  frory  has  now  been  told  over  and  over  again,  this 
chapter  ilill  fuppofes  the  reader  not  to  know  any  thing  of  it ;  for  it 
begins  by  faying,  ver.  i.  **  Zez,ed'iah  ^j^as  one  and  tijuenty  years  old 
**  lishen  he  began  to  feign^  and  he  reigyied  ele^ueii years  in  Jsrz^falem : 
*'  and  his  mother's  name  nvas  Hamutalf  the  daughter  of  Jeremiah  cj 
*'  L'ihnath.  Ver.  4.  And  it  came  to  pafs  in  the  7iinth  year  cf  his 
**  re'igny  in  the  tenth  month,  that  Nebuchadnezz,ary  king  cf  Babylon 
*'  came,  he  and  all  his  army,  agamf  ferujalsm,  and  pitched  againfi 
*'   //,  ajzd  built  forts  agai?;Ji  it,"  i5i'c.    i^c. 

It  is  not  poIHble  that  any  one  man,  and  more  particularly  Jere- 
miah, could  have  been  the  writer  of  this  book.  The  errors  are 
fach  as  co'jld  not  have  been  committed  by  r^ny  perfon  fetting  down 
to  compofe  a  work.  Were  I,  or  any  other  man,  to  write  in  fuch  a 
difordered  manner,  nobody  v/ould  read  what  was  written,  and  every 
cne  would  fuppofe  that  the  writer  was  in  a  Hate  of  infanity.  The 
only  way  therefore  to  account  for  the  diforder  is,  that  the  book  is  a 
medley  of  detached  unauthenticated  anecdotes,  put  together  by  fome 
itupid  book-maker,  under  the  name  of  Jeremiah,  becaufe  many 
of  them  refer  to  him,  and  to  the  circumllances  of  the  times  he 
lived  in. 

Of  the  duplicity  and  of  the  falfe  prediftion  of  Jeremiah,  I  fhall 
mention  two  inftances,  and  then  proceed  to  review  the  remainder  of 
the  bible. 

It  appears  from  the  3Sth  chapter,  that  when  Jeremiah  was  in 

prifon,   Zeclekiish  fent  for  him,  and  at  this  interviev/,    which  was 

private,   Jeremiah  prelTed  it    ftrongly   on   Zedckiah  to    furrender 

himfelf  to  the  enemy.     If,  fays  he,    ver.  ij.    Thou  nvilt  affuredly 

go  forth  UTito  the  king  of  Babylon's  princes,  then  thy  foul j/?all  li've,  ^'c. 

Zedekiah  was   cpprehenfive    that  what  pafTed  at   this  conference 

fnoald  be  known  ;   and  he  faid   to  Jeremiah,    ver.    25.   "  If  the 

'*  princes'- (meaning  thcfe  of  Judah)  hear  that  I   have  talked  with 

"  thee,  and  they  come  unto  thee,  and  fay  unto  thee,  declare  unto 

♦*  us  now  v/hat  thou  haft  faid  unto  the  king,  hide  it  not  from  us, 

»«  and  v/e  v/ili  not  put  thcc  to  death,  and  alfo  v/hat  the  king  faid 

*'  unto  thee  ;   then  thou,  ihalt  fay  unto  them,  I  prefented  my  fup- 

♦*  plication  before  the  king,  that  he  would  not  caufe  me  to  return 

**  to  Jonathan's  houfe  to  die  there.     Then  came  all  the  princes  unto 

"   jcremdah,  and  aficed  him,  and  he  told  the?n  accordiyig  to  all  the 

"  ivordsthe  king  had  commanded.''     Thus  this  man  of  God,   as  he 

is  called,  could  tell  a  lie,    cr  very  ftrongly  prevajicatC;^   when  he- 


PARt  n.  AGE    OF    REASON.  105 

fuppoCed  it  would  anrwcr  his  purpofe  ;  for  certainly  he  did  not  go  to 
Zedekiah  to  make  this  application,  neither  did  he  make  it;  he  went 
becaufe  he  was  fent  for ;  and  he  employed  that  opportunity  to  advife 
Zedekiah  to  furrender  himfelf  t6  Nebuchadnezzar. 

In  the  34th  chapter  is  a  prophecy  of  Jeremiah  to  Zedekiah  111 
thefe  words ;  ver.  2.  "  Thus  faith  the  LoM,  Behold  I  will  give 
'^  this  city  into  the  hand  of  the  king  of  Babylon,  and  he  will  burn 
"  it  with  fire,  and  thou  flialt  not  efcape  out  of  his  hand,  but  fhalt 
'*  furcly  be  taken  and  delivered  into  his  hand  ;  and  thine  eyes 
^*  Ihall  behold  the  eyes  of  the  king  of  Babylon,  and  he  Ihall 
'*  fpeak  with  thee  mouth  to  mouth,  and  thou  fhalt  go  to  Babylon; 
'^  jyet  hear  the  ivordof  the  Lord,  O  Zedekiah y  king  of  Jiidah.  ,  ^hts 
''  faith  the  Lord,  thou  fhalt  not  die  by  thefojord:  but  thou  /halt  die  ut 
^*  peaccy  and  iv'ith  the  burnings  of  thy  fathers  y  the  former  kings  thai 
''  nvere  before  thee,  fo Jhall  they  burn  odours  for  thee;  and  th^'y  "vill 
**  lament  thee y  fay ingy  Ahy  Lord!  for  I  have  pronounced  the  ^ 

"  WORD,  saitH  THE  Lord." 

Now,  inftead  of  Zedekiah  beholding  the  eyes  of  the  kirtg  of 
Babylon,^and  fpeaking  with  him  mouth  to  mouth,  and  dying  in 
peace,  and  with  the  burning  of  odours,  as  at  the  funeral  of  his 
fathers  (as  Jeremiah  had-  declared  the  Lord  himfelf  had  pronounced; 
the  reverfe,  according  to  the  5  2d  chapter,  was  the  cafe  ;  it  is  there 
faid,  verfe  10.  "  That  the  king  of  Babylon  fe^v  the  fans  of  Zedekiah 
*'  before  his  eyes;  then  he  put  out  the  eyes  of  Zedekiah y  and  bound  hi/n. 
*^  in  chainSy  and  carried  him  to  Baby  Ion  y  and  put  him  in  prifott  tilt 
"  the  day  of  his  death.''  What  then  can  we  fay  of  thefe  prophetS| 
but  that  they  arc  impoftors  and  lyars  ? 

As  for  Jeremiah  he  experienced  none  of  thofe  evib.  He  Was 
taken  into  favour  by  Ncbucliadnezzar,  who  gave  him  in  charge  to 
the  captain  of  the  guard,  chap,  xxxix,  ver.  12.  "  Take  him  (faid 
"  he)  and  look  nvell  to  himy  and  do  him  no  harm;  but  do  unto  him  e'v>en 
•'  as  he  Jhall  fay  unto  thee.*"  Jeremiah  joined  himfelf  afterwards  tO 
Nebuchadnezzar,  and  went  about  prophefying  for  him  againft  the 
Egyptians  who  h?d  marched  to  the  relief  of  Jerufalem  while  it  was 
befieged.  Thus  much  for  another  of  the  lying  prophets,  and  the 
book  that  bears  his  name. 

I  havelDeen  the  more  particular  In  treating  of  the  books  afcrlbed  to 
Ifaiah  and  Jeremiah,  becaufe  thofc  two  arc  fpokcn  of  in  the  book> 
of  King?  and  of  Chronicles,  which  the  o.thers  are  not.  The 
remainder  of  the  books,  afcribed  to  the  men  called  prophets,  \  H^sll 
not  trouble  myfelf  much  about,  but  take  thcmcolicdivcly  into  the. 


io6  PA  INK'S     WORKS. 

obfervatlons    I    fliall    offer    on    the  charafter   of  the  men  llyled 
prophets. 

In  the  former  part  of  the  Age  of  Reafon  I  have  fald,  that  the 
word  prophet  was  the  bible  word  for  poet,  and  that  the  flights  and 
metaphors  of  the  Jewifh  poets,  have  been  foolifhly  erefted  into  what 
are  now  called  prophecies.  I  am  fufficiently  j-iftified  in  this  opinion, 
not  only  becaufe  the  books  called  the  Prophecies  are  written  in 
poetical  language;  but  becaufe  there  is  no  word  in  the  bible,  except 
it  be  the  word  prophet,  that  defcribes  what  we  mean  by  a  poet.  I 
have  alfo  faid  that  the  word  flgnified  a  performer  upon  mufical 
inftruments,  of  which  I  have  given  fome  inilances ;  fuch  as  that  of 
a  compjuiy  of  prophets  prophefying  with  pfalteries,  with  tabrets, 
with  pipes,  with  harps,  &c.  and  that  Saul  prophefied  with  them. 
1  Sam.,  chap,  x,  ver.  5.  It  appears  from  this  paflage,  and  from 
other  parts  in  the  book  of  Samuel,  that  the  word  prophet  was  confined 
tofigmtypoetr)'and  mufic  ;  for  the  perfonwho  was  fuppofed  to  have 
a  vif  onary  inlight  into  concealed  things  was  not  called  a  prophet 
h\it3.Se.er*  i  Sam.  chap,  ix,  ver.  9;  and  it  was  not  till  after  the 
word  Seeywtnt  out  of  ufe  (which  moll  probably  was  when  Saul 
baniflied  thofehe  called  wizards}  that  the  profeifion  of  the  Seer,  or 
the  art  of  feeing,  became  incorporated  into  the  word  prophet. 

According  to  the  modern  meaning  of  the  word  prophet  and 
prophefying,  it  fignifies  foretelling  events  to  a  great  diftance  of  time; 
and  it  became  neceilary  to  the  inventors  of  the  gofpel  to  give  it  this 
latitude  of  meaning,  in  order  to  apply  or  to  ftretch,  what  they  call 
the  prcphelies  of  the  old  teftament,  to  the  times  of  the  new.  Bdt, 
according  to  the  old  teftament,  the  prophefying  of  the  Seer,  and 
afterwards  of  the  Prophet,  fo  far  as  the  meaning  of  the  word  Seer 
v/as  incorporated  into  that  of  Prophet,  had  reference  only  to  things 
of  the  time  then  pa/Tmg,  or  very  clofely  connected  with  it ;  fuch  as 
the  event  of  a  battle  they  were  going  to  engage  in,  or  of  a  journey 
or  of  any  enterprize  they  were  going  to  undertake,  or  of  any 
circumft'ance  then  pending,  or  of  any  difficulty  they  were  then  in, 
all  of  which  had  immediate  reference  to  themfelves,  (as  in  the  cafe 
already  mentioned  of  Ahaz  and  Ifaiah,  v/ith  refpeft  to  the  expreffion. 
Behold anjirg'in  Jhall  conce'i've  and  bear  a  Jon)  and  not  to  any  diftant 

*   /  kno<vj  not  nx)hat  is  the  Hehrenx)  njuord  that  correfponds  to  the  ivord 
Seer  i?i  Engl'ijh ;   but  I obfer-ve  it  is  tranjlated  into  French  by  le  Voyant, 
from  the  "verb  voir,   to  fee,  and  wohich  means  the  perfon  <ivho  fees,  or 
the  Se-er, 


Part  IL  AGE     OF    REASON.  107 

future  time.  It  was  that  kind  of  prophefying  that  correfponds  to 
what  we  call  fortune-telling,  fuch  as  calling  nativities,  predi(!:ting 
riches,  fortunate  or  unfortunate  marriage,  conjuring  for  loft  goods, 
Sec.  and  it  is  the  fraud  of  the  Chriftian  church,  not  that  of  the 
Jews,  and  the  ignorance  and  fuperftition  of  modern,  not  that  ot 
ancient  times,  that  have  elevated  thofe  poetlcal-muiical-conjuring- 
dreaming-ftrolling  gentry,  into  the  rank  they  have  fmce  had. 

But  belides  this  general  charafter  of  all  the  prophets,  they  had 
alfo  a  particular  charader.  They  were  in  parties,  and  they  pro- 
phelied  for,  or  againft,  according  to  the  party  they  were  with,  as 
the  political  and  poetical  writers  of  the  prefent  day  write  in  detence 
of  the  party  they  alTociate  with  ngainft  the  other. 

After  the  Jews  were  divided  into  two  nations,  that  of  Judah  and 
that  of  Ifrael,  each  party  had  its  prophets  who  abufed  and  accufed 
each  other  of  being  falfe  prophets,  lying  prophets,  impoftors,  &c. 
The  prophets  of  the  party  of  Judah  prophefied  againil  the  prophets 
of  the  party  of  Ifrael,  and  thofe  of  the  party  of  Ifrael  againft  thofe 
of  Judah.  This  party-prophcfying  lliewed  itfelf  immediately  on  the 
reparation  under  the  firft  two  rival  kings  Rehcboam  and  Jeroboam. 
The  prophet  that  curfed,  or  prophefied  againft,  the  altar  that 
Jeroboam  had  built  in  Bethel,  was  of  the  party  of  Judah,  where 
Rehoboam  was  king ;  aad  he  was  way-laid  on  his  return  home,  by  a 
prophet  of  the  party  of  Ifrael,  who  faid  unto  him,  ( i  Kings,  chap. 
X.)  ^rt  thou  the  man  of  God  that  came  from  Judah  F  And  he  faidy  I 
am.  Then  the  prophet  of  the  party  of  Ifrael  faid  to  him,  /  am  a 
prophet  alfo  as  thou  art  (fignifying  of  Judah)  and  an  angel  f fake  unto 
me  by  the  n.uord  of  the  Lord^  f^j'^^g)  bring  him  hack  njo'ith  thee  ttrzto 
thine  houfey  that  he  may  eat  bread  ajid  drink  ivater;  hut,  fays  the 
iSthverfe,  he  lyed  7into  him.  The  event,  however,  accord.ino-  to 
theftory,  is,  that  the  prophet  of  Judah  never  got  back  to  Judsh; 
for  he  was  found  dead  on  the  road,  by  the  contrivance  of  the  prophet 
of  Ifrael,  who  no  doubt  was  called  a  true  prophet  hj  his  own  party, 
and  the  prophet  of  Judah  a  lying  prophet. 

In  the  3d  chapter  of  the  2d  of  Kings,  a  ftory  is  related  of 
prophefying,  or  conjuring,  that  Ihevvs  in  feveral  particulars,  the 
eharafter  of  a  prophet.  Jehofliaphat,  king  of  Judah,  and  Joram, 
king  of  Ifrael,  had,  for  a  while,,  ceafed  their  party  animofi ty,  and 
entered  into  an  alliance;  and  thofe  two,  tc-rether  with  the  kino-  of 
Edom,  engaged  in  a  war  againft  the  king  of  Moab.  After  uniting 
and  marching  their  armies,  the  ftory  fajfs,  they  were  in  great 
diftrefs  for  water,  upon  which  Jehcfhaphat  faid,   **  h  there  not  here  a 

O  2 


iqS       .  PA  INE's     WORKS, 


S( 


prophet  of  the  Lord^  that  %ve  may  enquire  of  the  Lord  by  h'lm?  And 
**  07ieof  the  fer^oants  of  the  k'lngof  Ifrael  fa'idy  here  h  EUJhay  (Elifha 
**  was  of"  the  party  of  Judalij  and  Jehnjhaphat  the  king  of  Jzidab 
^*  fa'idi  The  nvord  of  the  Lord  is  avith  him.'*  The  ftory  then  fays, 
that  thefe  three  kings  went  down  to  Elifha;  and  when  Eliflia  (who, 
as  I  have  faid,  w^as  a  Judahmite  prophet)  faw  the  king  of  Ifrael,  hff 
f aid  unto  him^  **  What  ha^je  I  to  do  nvith  thee^  get  thee  to  the  prophets 
^^  of  thy  father,  and  the  prophets  of  thy  mother,  Nay^  hut  faid  the 
**  king  of  Ifrael  J  the  Lord  hath  called  thefe  three  kings  together  to  deli'ver 
*^  them  into  the  hand  of  the  king  of  Moab»"  (Meaning,  becaufe  af 
the  diflrefs  they  were  in  for  water.)  Upon  which  Elilha  faid,  *'  As 
'*  the  Lord  of  hofts  Ivuethy  before  njohom  I  Jiandy  furely^  nvere  it  not 
'f  that  I  regard  the  prefence  of  Jehofhaphaty  king  of  Judahy  I  'would 
"  not  look  to-ojards  thee,  nor  fee  thee,'*  Here  is  all  the  venom  and 
vulgarity  of  a  party  prophet.  We  have  now  to  fee  the  performance 
or  manner  of  prophefying. 

Verfe  15.  '<■  Bring  vie,  faid  Eliiha,  a  mi? fire L  And  it  came  t9 
*'  paf,  ^vhen  the  mi7firel  played,  that  the  hand  of  the  Lord  came  upon 
"  him."  Here  is  the  farc^  of  the  conjurer.  Now  for  the  prophefy. 
**  And  Elifha  faid,  (fmging,  moft  probably,  to  the  tune  he  was 
"  playing)  "  Thus  faith  the  Lord — make  this  'valley  full  of  ditches,'* 
which  was  juft  telling  them  what  every  countryman  could  have 
told  them,  without  either  fiddle  or  farce,  that  the  way  to  get  water 
was  to  dig  for  it. 

But  as  every  conjurer  is  not  famous  alike  for  the  fame  thing,  fo 
neither  were  thofe  prophets ;  for  though  all  of  them,  at  leaft  thofe 
I  have  fpoken  of,  were-  famous  for  lying,  fome  of  them  excelled  in 
curfing.  Elilha,  whom  I  have  juft  mentioned,  was  a  chief  in  this 
branch  of  prophefying.  It  was  lie  that  curfed  the  forty-two  children 
in  the  name  of  the  Lord,  whom  the  two  (he-bears  came  and  de- 
voured. We  are  to  fuppofe  that  thofe  children  were  of  the  party 
of  Ifrael.  But  as  thofe  who  wdll  curfe  will  lye,  there  is  juft  as 
much  credit  to  be  given  to  this  ftory  of  Eliiha's  two  fhe-bears,  as 
there  is  to  that  of  the  dragon  of  Wantley,.  of  whom  it  is  faid. 

Poor  children  three,  devoured  he, 
That  could  not  v/ith  him  grapple  ; 
And  at  one  fup,  he  eat  them  up, 
As  a  man  would  eat  an  apple. 

There  were  another  defcription  of  men  called  prophets,  that 
amufed  themfelves   with  dreams  and  vifions  but  whether  by  ni^ht 


Part  II.  A  G  E     O  F     R  E  A  S  O  N. 


09 


or  by  day  we  know  not.     Thefe,  if  they  were  not  quite  harmlefs, 
were  but  little  mifchievoiis.     Of  this  clafs,  are, 

EzEKiEL  and  Daniel  ;  and  the  firft  queftion  upon  thofe  books,  as 
upon  all  the  others,  is,  are  they  genuine  ?  that  is,  were  they  written 
by  Ezekiel  and  Daniel  ? 

Of  this  there  is  no  proof;  but  fo  far  as  my  own  opinion  goes,  I 
am  more  inclined  to  believe  they  were  than  that  they  were  not. 
My  reafons  for  this  opinion  are  as  fcl-ow  : 

Firft,  becaufe  thofe  books  do  not  contain  internal  evidence  to 
prove  they  were  not  written  by  Ezekiel  and  Daniel,  as  the  books 
afcribed  to  Mofes,  Jofhua,  Samuel,  &:c.  &c.  prove  they  were  not 
written  by  Mofes,  Jofhua,  Samuel,  &c.  &c. 

Secondly,  becaufe  they  were  not  written  till  after  the  Babylonilh 
captivity  began  ;  and  there  is  good  reafon  to  believe,  that  not  any 
book  in  the  bible  was  written  before  that  period;  at  leaft  it  is 
proveable,  from  the  books  themfelves,  as  I  have  already  fliewn, 
that  they  were  not  written  till  after  the  commencement  of  the 
Jewiih  monarchy. 

Thirdly,  becaufe  the  manner  in  which  the  books  afcribed  to 
Ezekiel  and  Daniel  are  written,  agrees  with  the  condition  thefe 
men  were  in  at  the  time  of  writing  them. 

Had  the  numerous  commentators  and  priefts  who  have  fooliflily 
employed  or  wafted  their  time  in  pretending  to  expound  and  un- 
riddle thofe  books,  been  carried  into  captivity  as  Ezekiel  and 
Daniel  were,  it  would  greatly  have  improved  their  intelledls  in 
comprehending  the  reafon  for  this  mode  of  writing;  and  have 
faved  them  the  trouble  of  racking  their  invention,  as  they  have 
done,  X(^  no  purpofe ;  for  they  would  have  found  that  themfelves 
would  be  obliged  to  write,  whatever  they  had  to  write,  refpetfling 
their  own  affairs,  or  thofe  of  their  friends,  or  of  their  country, 
in  a  concealed  manner  as  thofe  men  have  done. 

Thefe  two  books  differ  from  all  the  reft ;  for  it  is  only  thefe  that 
are  filled  with  accounts  of  dreams  and  vifions ;  and  this  difference 
arofe  from  the  fituation  the  writers  were  in  as  prifoners  of  war  or 
prifoners  of  ftate  in  a  foreign  country,  v/hich  obliged  them  to  con. 
vey  even  the  moft  trifling  information  to  each  other,  and  all  their' 
political  projedls  or  opinions  in  obfcure  and  metaphorical  terms* 
They  pretended  to  have  dreamed  dreams,  and  feen  vifions,  becaufo 
it  was  unfafe  for  them  to  fpeak  fa^ts  or  plain  language.  V/e  ought 
however  to  fuppofe  that  the  perfons  to  whom  they  wrote  underftood 
what  tbey  meant^  and  that  it  was  not  intended  aiay  body  elfo 


no  P  A  INK'S     WORKS.   , 

(hould.  But  thefe  bufy  commentators  and  priefts  have  been  puz- 
zling their  wits  to  find  out  what  it  was  not  intended  they  fliould 
know,   and  with  which  they  have  nothing  to  do. 

Ezekiel  and  Daniel  were  carried  prifoners  to  Babylon,  under  the 
firft  captivity,  in  the  time  of  Johoichira,  nine  years  before  the 
fecond  captivity  in  the  time  of  Zedekiah.  The  Jews  were  then 
ftill  numerous,  and  had  confiderable  force  at  Jerufalem;  and  as  it 
is  natural  to  fuppofe  that  men,  in  the  fituation  of  Ezekiel  and 
Daniel,  would  be  meditating  the  recovery  of  their  country  and 
their  own  deliverance,  it  is  reafonable  to  fuppofe,  that  the  accounts 
of  dreams  and  vifions,  with  which  thefe  books  are  filled,  are  no 
other  than  a  difguifed  mode  of  correfpondence  to  facilitate  thofe 
objeds.  It  ferved  them  as  a  cypher  or  fecret  alphabet.  If  they 
are  not  this,  they  are  tales,  reveries,  and  nonfenfe ;  or  at  leaft  a 
fanciful  way  of  wearing  off  the  wearifomenefs  of  captivity ;  but 
the  prefumption  is,  they  are  the  former. 

Ezekiel  begins  his  book  by  fpeaking  of  a  vifion  of  cberuhims,  and 
of  a  vilion  of  a  <wheel  njo'ith'in  a  nxiheel,  which  he  fays  he  faw  by 
the  river  Chebar  in  the  land  of  his  captivity.  Is  it  not  reafonable 
to  fuppofe  that  by  the  cherubims  he  meant  the  temple  of  Jerufalem, 
where  they  had  figures  of  cherubims ;  and  by  a  wheel  within  a  wheel 
(which  as  a  figure  has  always  been  underftood  to  fignify  political 
contrivance)  the  project  or  means  of  recovering  Jerufalem.  In  the 
latter  part  of  his  book  he  fuppofes  himfelf  tranfported  to  Jerufalem, 
and  into  the  temple ;  and  he  refers  back  to  the  vifion  on  the  river 
Chebar,  and  fays,  chap,  xliii,  ver.  3,  that  this  lall  vifion  was  like 
the  vifion  on  the  river  Chebar  ;  which  indicates  that  thofe  pretended 
dreams  and  vifions  had  for  their  objed  the  recovery  of  Jerufalem, 
and  nothing  further. 

As  to  the  romantic  interpretations  and  applications,  wild  as  the 
dreams  and  vifions  they  undertake  to  explain,  which  commentators 
and  priefts  have  made  of  thofe  books,  that  of  converting  them 
into  things  which  they  call  prophefics,  and  making  them  bend  to 
times  and  circumftances,  as  far  remote  even  as  the  prefent  day,  it 
fhews  the  fraud  or  the  extreme  folly  to  which  credulity  or  prieft- 
craft  can  go. 

Scarcely  any  thing  can  be  more  abfurd  than  to  fuppofe,  that  men 
fituated  as  Ezekiel  and  Daniel  were,  whofe  country  was  over-run 
and  in  the  poffeffion  of  the  enemy,  all  their  friends  and  relations  in 
captivity  abroad,  or  in  flavery  at  home,  or  maffacred,  or  in  continual 
danger  of  it ;   fcarcely   any  thing,  I  fay,  can  be  more  abfurd  than 


Part  II.  A  G  E     O  F    R  E  A  S  O  N.  in 

to  fuppofe,  that  fuch  men  fhould  find  nothing  to  do,  but  that  of 
employing  their  time  and  their  thoughts  about  what  was  to  happen  to 
other  nations  a  thoufand  or  two  thoufand  years  ,after  they  were 
dead  :  at  the  Tame  time  nothing  more  natural  than  that  they  fhould 
meditate  the  recovery  of  Jerufalem,  and  their  own  deliverance,  and 
that  this  was  the  fole  object  of  all  their  obfcure  and  apparently 
frantic  writing  contained  in  thofe  books. 

In  this  fenfe,  the  mode  of  writing  ufcd  in  thofe  two  books,  be- 
ing forced  by  neceffity,  and  not  adopted  by  choice,  is  not  irrational. 
But  if  we  are  to  view  the  books  as  prophefies,  they  are  falfe.  Irj 
the  29th  chapter  of  Ezekiel,  fpeaking  of  Egypt,  it  is  faid,  ver. 
II,"  No  foot  of  man  fhall  pafs  through  it,  nor  foot  of  beaft  fhallpafs 
**  through  it ;  neither Jhall  it  he  inhahited for  forty  years."  This  is  what 
never  came  to  pafs,  and  confequently  it  is  falfe  as  all  the  books  I  have 
already  reviewed  are.     I  here  clofe  this  part  of  the  fubjed:. 

In  the  former  part  of  the  Age  of  Reafon^  I  have  fpoken  of  Jonah, 
and  of  the  llory  of  him  and  the  whale.  A  fit  llory  for  ridicule, 
if  it  was  written  to  be  believed;  or  of  laughter,  if  it  was  intended 
to  try  v/hat  credulity  could  fwallow ;  for  if  it  could  fwallow  Jonah 
and  the  whale,   it  can  fwallow  any  thing. 

But,  as  is  already  fhewn  in  the  observations  on  the  book  of  Job 
and  of  Proverbs,  it  is  not  alv/ays  certain  which  of  the  books  in 
the  bible  are  originally  Hebrew,  or  only  tranflations  from  books 
of  the  Gentiles  into  Hebrew ;  and  as  the  book  of  Jonah,  fo  far  from 
treating  of  the  affairs  of  the  Jews,  fays  nothing  upon  that  fubjed, 
but  treats  altogether  of  the  Gentiles,  it  is  more  probable  that  it  is 
a  book  of  the  Gentiles  than  of  the  Jews  ;  and  that  it  has  been 
written  as  a  fable  to  expofe  the  nonfenfe,  and  fatyrize  the  vicious 
and  malignant  charader  of  a  bible  prophet  or  a  prediding  prieft. 

Jonah  is  reprefented,  firft,  as  a  difobedient  prophet,  ranning  away 
from  his  million,  and  taking  fiieiter  on  board  a  vefTel  of  the  Gen- 
tiles bound  from  Joppa  to  Tarlhifh ;  as  if  he  ignorantly  fuppofed, 
by  fuch  a  paltry  contrivance,  he  could  hide  himfelf  where  God 
could  not  find  him.  The  vefTel  is  overtaken  by  a  ftorm  at  fea,  and 
the  mariners,  all  of  whom  are  Gentiles,  believing  it  to  be  a  judg, 
mcnt  on  account  of  fome-one  on  board  who  had  committed  a  crime, 
agreed  to  call  lots  to  difcover  the  offender,  and  the  lot  fell  upon 
Jonah :  But  before  this,  they  had  cafl:  all  their  wares  and  mer- 
chandize over-board,  to  lighten  the  velfel,  while  Jonah,  like  a 
ftupid  fellow,  was  faft  a-flcep  in  the  hold. 

After  the  lot  had  defignated  Jonah  to  be   the  offender,    they 


Ill  PAiNE's  Works. 

qucftioned  him  to  kno\v  who  and  what  he  was  ?  and  he  told  thsm 
he  nvas  an  Hebrew ;  and^  the  ftory  implies  that  he  confefled  himielf 
to  be  guilty.  But  thefe  Gentiles,  inftead  of  facrilicing  him  at  once, 
without  pity  or  mercy,  as  a  company  of  bible  prophets  or  priefts 
would  have  done  by  a  Gentile  in  the  fame  cafe,  and  as  it  is  related 
Samuel  had  done  by  Agr.g,  and  Mofes  by  the  women  and  children, 
they  endeavoured  to  fave  him,  though  at  the  rifk  of  their  own 
lives :  for  the  account  fays,  "  Ne^verthelefs,  (that  is,  though  Jortah 
was  a  Jew  and  a  foreigner,  and  the  caufe  of  all  their  misfortunes, 
and  the  lofs  of  their  cargo)  **  th$  77ien  roujed  hard  to  bring  the  boat  to 
'^  land^  but  they  could  ?ioty  for  the  fca  -wrought ^  and  nvas  ientpejiuoui 
'*  agauij}  them,'*  Still,  however,  they  were  unwilling  to  put  the 
fate  of  the  lot  into  execution,  and  they  cried,  fays  the  account, 
unto  the  Lord,  faying,  '^  We  befeech  theey  O  Lordy  let  us  not  per'ijh 
^*  for  this  man's  Ifcj  and  lay  not  upon  us  innocent  blood;  for  thou,  O 
'*  Lord,  has  dotie  as  it  plcafed  thee."  Meaning  thereby,  that 
they  did  not  prefume  to  judge  Jonah  guilty,  fmce  he  might  be 
innocent,  but  that  they  conudered  the  lot  that  had  fallen  upon  him, 
as  a  decree  of  God,  or  as  it  pleafed  God,  The  addrefs  of  this  prayef 
fhews  that  the  Gentiles  worfhipped  one  Supreme  Being,:  and  that  they 
were  not  idolators,  as  the  Jews  reprefented  them  to  be«  But  the 
ftorm  ftill  continuing,  and  the  danger  increafmg,  they  put  the  fate 
of  the  lot  into  execution,  and  caft  Jonah  into  the  fea,  where, 
according  to  the  (lory,  a  ?-reat  fiih  Avallowed  him  whole  and  alive. 

We  have  now  to  confider  Jonah  fecurely  houfed  from  the  ftorm  ; 
in  the  fifh's  belly.  Here  we  are  told  that  he  prayed;  but  the 
prayer  is  a  made  up  prayer,  taken  from  various  parts  of  the  pfalms, 
without  connei^lion  or  confiftency,  and  adapted  to  the  diftrefs,  but 
not'at' all  to  the  condition  that  Jonah  was  in.  It  is  fuch  a  prayer 
as  a  Gentile,  who  might  know  fomething  of  the  pfalms,  could  copy 
out  for  him.  This  circumftance  alone,  were  there  no  other,  is 
fufificient  to  indicate  that  the  whole  is  a  made  up  ftory.  The  prayer, 
however,  is  fuppofed  to  have  anfwered  the  purpofe,  and  the  ftory 
goes  on,  (taking  up  at  the  fame  time  the  cant  language  of  a  bible 
prophet)  faying,  "  The  Lord f pake  unto  the  fifh,  and  it  vomited  out 
«*  Jonah  upon  the  dry  land."      r     ,  y; 

Jonah  then  receives  a  fccond  miffion  toNinevehj  with  which  he 
fets  outj  and  we  have  now  to  consider  him  as  a  preacher.  The 
diftrefs  he  is  reprefented  to  have  fuiTered,  _  the  remembrance  of  his 
own  difobedience  as  the  caufe  of  it,  and  the  miraculous  efcapc  he  i* 
fuppofed  to  have  had,  Were  fufficient,  one  would  conceive,  to  h.ive 


Part  II.  j  A  G  E    O  F    xR.  E  A  S  O  N.  113 

impreffed  him  with   fympathy  and  benevolence  in  the  execution   of 
his  milTion  ;   but  iuftead  of  this,  he  enters  the  city  with  denunciation 
and  maledi£lion  in  his  mouth,  crying,  "  Td  forty  days,  and  Nhieveh 
Jlmllhe  o'vetthrozun.^^ 

We  have  now  to  con/ider  this  fupjx)red  mifiionary  in  the  hA.  a6l 
of  his  million  ;  and  here  it  is  that  the  malevolent  fpirit  of  a  Bible-pro- 
phet, or  of  a  prediftii!g  prieft,  appears  in  al!  the  blacknefs  of  cliavac- 
tcr,  that  men  afcribs  to  the  being  they  call  the  devil. 

Having  puplillied  his  prediclion,  he  withdrew,  fays  the  ftorv',  to 
the  eaft  iide  of  the  city. — But  for  what?  not  lo  contemplate  in  re- 
tirement the  mercy  of  his  Creator  to  liimfelf,  or  to  others,  but  wait, 
with  malignant  impatience,  the  deRruftion  of  Nineveh.  It  came  to 
pafs,  however,  as  the  itory  relates,  that  the  Ninevites  refornied,  and 
that  God,  according  to  the  Bible  phrafe,  repented  him  of  the  evil  he 
had  faid  he  would  do  unto  them,  and  did  it  not.  This,  faiih  the  firit 
verfe  of  the  lall  chapter,  difplcafed  yonah  cxcesdtni^ly^  and  he  ^ojas  very 
migry.  His  obdurate  heart  had  rather  that  all  Nineveh  fhould  be 
deftroyed,  and  every  foul,  young  and  old,  perim  in  it's  ruins,  than 
that  his  prcdiftion  fhould  not  be  fulfilled.  To  expofe  the  charadler 
of  a  prophet  dill  more,  a  gourd  is  made  to  grow  up  in  the  night, 
that  promifes  him  an  agreeable  flielter  from,  the  heat  of  the  fun,  in 
the  place  to  which  he  is  retired;  and  the  next  morning  it  dies. 

Here  the  rage  of  the  prophet  becomes  exceflive,  and  he  is  ready  to 
dedroy  himfelf.  **  I:  is  bctlcr,  faid  he,  for  me  to  die  than  to  live.^* 
This  brings  on  a  fuppofed  expoflnlation  between  the  Almighty  and 
the  prophet ;  in  which  the  former  fays,  *'  JDoe^^  tho'/  'iveti  lo  he  angry 
for  the  »ourd?  And  Jonah  faid,  I  do  tvell  to  he  angry,  even  unto  death. 
Then  faid  the  Lord,  Thou  hajl  had  pity  on  the  gourd,  far  'which  thou 
hafl  not  laboured,  neither  madefi  it  io  grotv,  ivhich  came  up  in  a  night ; 
nndfaovld  not  I  f pare  Nineveh,  that  great  city,  in  ivhich  ar'^  more  than 
ihreefcore  thojf and  per  funs,  that  cannot  difcern  letiuecn  their  right  hand 
and  their  left  ?'' 

Here  is  both  the  winding  up  of  the  fatire,  and  the  moral  of  the 
fable.  As  a  fatire,  it  Ihikes  againll  the  character  of  all  the  Bible 
prophets,  and  againft  all  the  indifcriminate  judgments  upon  men, 
women,  and  children,  with  which  this  lying  book,  the  Bible,  is 
crowded;  fuch  as  Noah's  flood,  the  deftruftioi-.  of  the  cities  of  So- 
dom and  Gom.orrah,  the  extirpation  of  the  Canaanites,  even  to  fuck- 
ing infants,  and  women  with  child;  becaide  the  fame  refledtion,  that 
thtre  are  more  than  threefcorc  ihonfand perfons  that  cannot  difcern  hetnveen 


114  P^AINE's     WORKS. 

their  right  hand  and  their  left,  meaning  young  children,  applies  to  all 
their  cafes.  It  fatirizes  alio  the  fuppofed  partiality  of  the  Creator 
for  one  nation,  more  than  for  another. 

As  a  moral,  it  preaches  a^ainft  the  malevolent  fpirit  of  prcdiftion ; 
for  as  certainly  as  a  man  piedi6tr.  ill,  he  becomes  inclined  to  wifli  it. 
The  pride  of  having  hit;  judgment  riglit,  hardens  his  heart,  till  at  lad 
he  beholds  with  fatisfadlion,  or  fee:;  with  dif;'.ppoii:tment,  the  acccm- 

plifiunent  or  the  failure  of  hio  prediclions. This  book  ends  with 

the  fame  kind  of  ilrong  zwi  well  directed  point  againll  prophets, 
prophecies,  and  iiidifcriminr.te  jiiugments,  as  the  chapter  that  Ben- 
jamin Franklin  made  for  the  Bible,  about  Abraham  and  the  ftranger, 
ending'  againil  the  intolerant  fpirit  of  religious  pcrfecution.  Thus 
much  for  tije  book  of  Jonah. 

Of  the  poetical  parts  of  the  Bible,  that  arc  called  prophecies,  I 
have  (poken  in  the  former  part  of  tlie  ylge  of  Reafon^  and  already' ia. 
this;  where  I  have  ir.id  tliat  tb.e  word  prophet  is  the  Bible-word  for 
poet ;  and  that  the  flights  and  metaphors  of  thofe  poets,  many  of 
which  are  become  obfcure  by  the  lapfe  of  time  and  the  change  of 
circumilance,  have  been  ridiculoufly  eretiled  into  things,  called  pro- 
phecies, and  applied  to  purpofes  the  writers  never  thouglit  of.  When 
a  prielt  quotes  any  of  thofe  paffages,  he  unriddles  it  agreeably  to  his 
own  viev/s,,  and  irapofes  that  explanation  upon  his  congregation  ai^ 
the  me"aning  of  the  Avriter.  The  zvhcrc  of  Babylon  has  been  the  com>- 
m.on  whore  of  all  the  prieils,  and  each  has  acculed  tlie  other  of  kcepr 
ing  the  llrumpct:  fo  well  do  they  agree  in  their  explanations. 

Kere  now  remain  only  a  few  books,  u liich  thc^  call  the  book<  oi 
the  lefTer  prophets ;  and  as  I  have  already  fiiewn  ihal  the  greater  are 
im.noflors;  it" would  be  cr.wardice  to  dilhnb  the  repofe  of  the  little 
ones.  Let  them  fleep  then,  in  the  arms  of  rlieir  nurfea,  the  priefts, 
and  both  be  forgotten  together. 

I  have  gone  through  the  Bible,  as  a  man  v/ould  go  through  a 
wood  with  an  axe  on  his  fhoulder,  and  fell  trees :  Here  they  lie;  and 
the  priefls,  ifthcy  can,  may  replant  them,  Thej  m.aj,  perliaps,  Hick 
them  in  tlie  ground,  but  they  will  never  m.akcthaii  grpy.'.-n— pi  pafs 
on  to  the  book's,  of, the  New  1  eitament. 

T  H E   N  E  W    T E  S  T  AM  EN  T. :, : 

Tlie  New  Tcdamcnt,   they  tell  us,   is  founded,  upon  the  prophe- 
cics  of  the  Old;  if  fo,  it  muft  follow  the  fate  of  it's  foundation. 
As  it  is  nothing  extraordinary  tb.r.t  a  womarv  fifoidd  be  vritli  chili  ' 


Part  IT.]  AGE    OF    REASON.  115 

before  fte  was  iTiarnec],  and  that  the  fon  flie  might  bring  forth  fhould 
.  be  executed^  even  unjuftly;  1  fee  no  reafon  for  not  believing  that 
fiich  a  woman  as  Mary,  and  fuch  a  man  as  Jofepn,  and  Jefus,  exiftcd; 
their^efc  exigence  is  a  matter  of  indifference,  about  which  there  Is 
"%^  "  '  either  to  bch'eve,  or  to  diibeh'eve,  and  which  comes  under 
th^  common  head  of,  It  :n,7y  lejo  ;  and  ivhalthcn?  The  probability, 
however,  is,  tliat  there  were  fuch  perfons,  or  at  lead  fuch  as  refembled 
them  m  part  of  the  circumilances,  becaufe  ahiioll  all  romantic  ftories 
have  been  fu^gcfted  by  fom^  aftual  circnmftance;  as  the  adventures 
of  Robinfon  Crufoc,  not  a  word  of  wliich  ia  true,  were  fuggeiled  by 
the  cafe  of  Alexander  Selkirk. 

It  is  not  then  the  cxillence,  or  non-exidence,  of  the  perfons  that  I 
ti-ouble  myfelf  about ;  it  is  the  fable  of  Jefus  Chriil,  as  is  told  '\\\  the 
New  Tefcamcnt,  and  the  wild  and  vifionary  doclrine  railed  thereon, 
againil  wliich  I  contend.  The  llory,  taking  it  as  it  is  cold,  is  blaf- 
phemoufly  obfcene.  It  gives  an  account  of  a  yo.ung  wom.an  engaged 
to  be  married,  and  vv^hile  under  this  engagement,  flic  is,  to  fpeak  plain 
language,  debauclied  by  a  ghoft,  under  the  impious  pretence  (Luke, 
chap.  i.  ver.  35,)  that  ^^  the  Holy  Ghofu  JJjali  come  upon  tbec,  and  the 
po'ivcr  ofihe  Blgheft  JJj all  overJJjadoiv  thee. ^^  Notu'ithllanding  which^ 
Jofcph  afterwards  marries  her  as  his  wife,  and  in  his  turn  rivals  the 
ghoft.  This  iij  putting  the  fl:ory  into  intelligible  language,  and  when 
told  in  this  manner,  there  is  not  a  prieil  but  mull  be  afliamcd  to 
Gwn  if."''     TT 

Gbfcenlty  in  matters  of  faith,  liowevcr  wrapped  up.  Is  always,  a 
token  of  fable  and  impofture ;  for  it  is  aecefTary  to  our  ferious  belief 
in  God,  that  wc  do  not  connedl  it  v.'ith  (lories  that  run,  as  it  does, 
into  ludicrous  interpretations.  This  (lory  is,  upon  the  face,  of  it,  the 
fame  kind  of  (lory  as  that  of  Jupiter  and  Leda,  or  Jupiter  and.  Eu- 
ropa,  or  any  of  the  aruorous  adventures  of  Jupiter  ;  and  fliewft,  as  la 
already  dated  in  the  iormer  part  of  the  Age  of  Reafon,  that  the 
ChrKlian  faith  is  built  upon  the  lieathen  mytholo'^^y.  , 

As  the  hiftorical  parts  of  the  Nev»'  Teftiiment,  fo  far  as  concerns 
Jefus  Chrift,  are  confined  to  a  very  ihort  fpace  of  time,  lefs  tha,n  two 
years,  and  all  within  the  fame  country,  and  nearly  to  the  fame  fpot, 
the  difcordance  of  time,  place,  and  circumftance,  which  detecfls  the 
fallacy  of  the  books  of  the  Old  Teftarnent,  and  proves  them,  to  be 
impofitions,   cannot  be  expeded  to  be  found  here  in  the  fame  abuu- 

"*  Mary,  the  fuppofed  virgin  mother  of  Jefus,  had  fevcraJ  other  chil- 
dren, fans  and  daughters.     See  Matt*  chap.  xiii.  ver.  55>  5^. 


lib  P  A  I  N  E  ^s    WO  R  K  S. 

dance.  The  Ntw  Teftament,  compared  with  the  Old,  is  hke  a  farce 
of  one  act,  in  which  there  is  not  room  for  very  numerous  violations 
of  the  unities.  There  are,  however,  fonie  glaring  contradiftions, 
which,  exciufive  of  the  fallacy  of  the  pretended  prophecies,  af^  fuin- 
cient  to  ihew  the  ilory  of  Jcuis  Chriil  to  be  falfe. 

I  lay  it  down.as  a  pofition  which  cannot  be  controverted,  firft,  that 
the  ogree7ireiit  of  all  the  parts  of  a  ftory  does  n.ot  prove  the  ftory  to  be 
true,  becaiifc  the  parts  may  agree,  and  the  whole  may  be  falfe;  fe- 
condly  that  the  dlfagreement  of  the  piits  of  a  ftory  proves  that  the 
nvhole  cannot  he  true.  The  agreement  does  not  prove  truth,  but  the 
difagreemisnt  proves  fallehcod  pofitively. 

The  hiftory  of  Jeius  Chriil  is  contained  in  the  four  books  afcribtd 
\.Q  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke  and  John.  'J  he  fir  i  chapter  of  Matthew 
begins  with  giving  a  genealogy  of  Jtfiis  Chrifl;  and  in  the  third  cha]:- 
ter  of  Luke,  there  \%  alfo  given  a  genealogy  of  Jefus  Chrift.  Did 
thefe  two  agree,  it  would  not  prove  thegeneal  gy  to  be  true,  becaufe 
it  might,  neverthclrfs  be  a  fabrication;  but  \i  they  contradifl  each 
other  in  every  particular,  it  prove?  falfehood  abfolutdy.  If  Matthew 
fpeak  truth,  Luke  fpeaks  falfehood  :  and  if  Luke  fpeak  truth,  Mat- 
thew fpeaks  falfehood  :  and  as  there  is  no  authority  for  believing  one 
more  than  the  other,  there  is  no  authority  for  beheving  either;  and  if 
they  cannot  be  believed,  even  in  the  very  lirfl  thing  they  fay,  and  fet 
out  to  prove,  they  are  not  entitled  to  be  believed  in  any  thing  they 
fay  afterwards.  Truth  is  an  uniform  thing;  and  as  to  infpiration  and 
revelation,  were  we  to  admit  it,  it  is  impofiible  to  fuppofe  it  cai?  be 
cnitradidory.  Either  then  the  men  called  apoflles  were  im.poftors, 
or  the  books  afcribed  to  them  have  been  wrilt >n  by  other  perfons,  and 
fathered  uport  them,  as  is  the  cafe  in  the  Old  Teftament. 

The  book  of  Matthew  gives,  chap,  i,  ver.  6,  a  genealogy  by  name 
from  David,  up,  through  Jofeph,  the  hufhand  of  Mary,  to  Chrift; 
and  makes  there  to  be  ttventy-aght  generations.  The  book  of  Luke 
gives  alFo  a  genealogy  by  name  from  Chrift,  thro  gh  Jofeph,  the  huf= 
band  of  Mary,  down  to  David,  and  makes  there  to  he  forty-three  gene- 
rations ;  befides  which,  there  are  only  the  two  names  of  David  and 
Jofeph  that  ;.re  alike  in  the  two  lifts.  I  here  infert  both  genealogical 
lifts,  and. for  the  fake  of  perfpicuity  and  comparifon,  have  placed 
them  both  in  the  fame  dire  -don,  that  is,  from  Jofeph  down  to  David. 
Genealogy,  according  to  Matthew^  Genealogy,  according  to  Liike» 

Chrift.  Chrift.  yyXooY^^ 

'    2   Jofeph.  2  Jofeph.  '  ^ 

3  Jacob.  3   Hcli, 


Part  II.] 


AGE   OF  REASON. 


1 1 


Genealogy,  according  to  Matthszu, 

4  Matthan. 

5  Eleazar. 

6  Eliud. 

7  Achim. 

8  Sacloc. 

9  Azor. 
[o  Eliakim. 

1  Abiiid. 

2  Zorobabel. 
Salathid. 

[4  Jechonias, 

5  Jofias. 

6  Amon. 

7  Manafles, 
l8  Ezekias. 
:9   Achaz. 

20  Joathara. 

21  Ozlas. 
2  2   Joram. 

23  Jofaphat. 

24  Afa. 

25  Abia. 

26  Roboam. 

27  Solomon. 

28  David. 


Genealogy y  accanilng  to  Luke. 
4  M:iithat. 
5l^evl. 

6  Melchi'. 

7  Janna. 

8  Jofeph. 

9  Mattathu;s. 
10  An:os. 

I  t    N'Tum. 

12  Edi. 

13  Nagge. 
14.  Maath. 

15  Mattathias. 

16  Semi. 

17  Jofeph. 

18  Juda. 

19  Joanna. 

20  Rhefa. 

21  Zorobabel. 

22  Salathkl. 

23  Neii. 

24  Mclchf. 
2^  Addi. 
26  Cofam. 

2  7   Ehnodam. 
2!^   Er. 

29  Jofe. 

30  Eliezer, 

3 1  Joram. 

32  Matthat. 

33  Levi'. 

34  Simeoa.- 

35  Ji'^^- 

36  Jofeph. 

37  J''"^';- 

38  Eilakim. 

39  Melea. 

40  Me  nan. 

41  Mattatha* 

42  Nathan. 
43.  David. 


y 


nS  PAINE's    WORKS. 

From  the  birtli  of  David  to  the  birth  of  Chrift  is  upwards  of  Jo^& 
years;  and  as  the  hfe-time  of  Chrifc  is  not  included,  thtre  are  hut  27 
full  generations.  To  i:  id  therefore  the  average  age  of  each  perfon 
mentioned  in  the  fiifl  Yiily  at  the  time  his  firu  fon  was  born,  it  is  only 
neceffary  to  divide  loSo  by  27,  which  gives  40  years  for  each  per- 
fon. As  the  lifetime  of  man  was  then  but  of  the  fame  extent  it  is 
now,  it  is  an  abfurdity  to  fuppofe,  that  27  following  generations 
fj^ould  all  be  old  bachelors,  before  they  married ;  and  the  more  fo, 
when  we  are  told,  that  Solomon,  the  next  in  fr.ccefQon  to  David, 
had  a  houfe  full  of  wives  and  milirefies,  before  he  was  twenty-one 
years  of  age.  So-fa4^£:&m  this  genealogy  being  a  folemn  truth,  it 
is  not  -ev^n  a  4:efrifer!*fti4e  lie.  The  liil  of  Luke  gives  about  twenty-fix 
years  for  the  average  age,  and  this  is  too  much. 

Now,  if  thefe  rnen,  Matthevv-  and  Luke,  fet  out  with  a  falfehood 
between  them  (as  thefe  two  accounts  fliew  they  do)  in  the  very 
commencement  of  their  hiftory  of  Jefus  Chrifl,  and  of  who,  and  of 
what  he  was,  what  authority  (as  I  have  before  a/Iced)  is  there  left 
for  believing  the  ftrange  things  they  tcli  us  afterwards?  If  they  can- 
not be  believed  in  tlieu"  account  of  his  natural  genealogy,  how  are 
wc  to  btlieve  them,  when  they  tell  us,  he  was  the  fon  of  God,  begot- 
ten by  a  ghoft,  and  that  an  angel  announced  this  in  fecret  to  his  mo- 
the'f?  If  they  lied  in  one  genealogy,  why  are  we  to  believe  them  in 
the  btheri*  If  his  natural  genealogy  be  manufafturcd,  which  it  cer- 
tainly isj  why  arc  we  not  to  fuppofe,  that  his  celeftial  genealogy  is 
manafac^ured  ah''o  ;  and  that  the  vv-holc  is  fabulous  ?  Can  any  man  of 
ferio^s  refieciioii  hazard  his  future  happir.efs  upon  the  belief  of  a  llory 
naturally  im.poffible  ;  repugnant  to  every  idea  of  decency;  and  related 
by  perfons  already  detected  of  fSlfehood  ?  Is  it  not  more  fafe,  that 
.  we  ftop  ourfelves  at  the  plain,  ^jure,  and  unmixed  belief  of  one  God, 
which  is  deifra,  than  that  we  commit  ourfelves  on  an  ocean  of  impro- 
bable, irrational,  indecent,  and  contradic^tory  tales  ?-W 

The  firft  queftion,  however,  upon  the  books  of  the  New  Tefta- 
ment,  as  tspoh  thefe  of  the  Old,  k,  Are  they  genuine?  were  they 
written  by  the  perfons  to  vAiom  they  are  afcribed?  for  it  is  upon  this 
crouftd  onl}',  that  the  ftrange  things  related  therein,  have  been 
credited.  Upon  this  point,  there  is  no  /rlire^  proof  for,  or  aga'wji  ; 
and  all  that  this  ilate  of  a  cafe  proves,  is  donbtjulnefs  ;  and  doubt- 
fulnefs  is  the 'opponte^  of  belief.  The  Hate,  therefore,  that  the 
books  are  in,  proves  againll  therafelves  as  far  as  this  kind  of  proof 
can  gOfir  .ju  iljj  7.;■l^/.  :-Zjt],i.  uu  iiDJj;;xv/  '.J.i  ^y 

But,  fixclufivc  ©ftliis,  the  prefumptioji  is,  that  the  bdoks  called  the 


Part  II.j  AGE    OF    REASON.  119 

Evangeliih,  and  afcribed  to  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke  and  John,  were 
not  written  by  Mattlaew,  Mark,  Luke  and  John ;  and  that  they  arc 
impofitioHs.  The  difordered  ilate  of  the  liiPiory  in  thefe  four  books, 
the  filence  of  one  book  upon  matters  related  in  the  other,  and  the  dif- 
agreement  that  is  to  be  found  among  them,  imph'es,  that  they  are  the 
produdlions  of  fome  unconnefted  individuals,  many  years  after  the 
things  they  pretend  to  rdate,  each  of  whom  made  his  own  legend  ; 
and  not  the  writings  of  men  h'ving  intimately  together,  as  tlie  men 
called  apoilles  are  fuppofed  to  have  done:  In  line,  that  they  have 
been  Jiianufacflured,  as  the  books  of  the  Old  Tcftament  have  been,  by 
other  perfons,  than  thofewhofe  names  they  bear.  — jAf 

The  ftory  of  tlie  angel,  announcing,  what  the  church  calls,  the  im- 
maculate  concept'tony  is  not  fo  much  as  mentioned  in  the  books  afcribed 
to  Mark  and  John  ;  and  is  differently  related  in  Matthew  and  Luke. 
The  former  fays,  the  angel  appeared  to  Jofeph ;  the  latter  fays,  it  v/as 
to  Mary;    but  either   Jofeph  or  Mary  was  the  worll  evidence  that, 
could  be  thought  of;   for  it  v/as  others  that  fhould  have  tcftifiedybr 
thcm^  and  not  they  for  themfclves.     Were  any  girl  that  is  now  with 
child  to  fay,  and  even  to  fwear  it,  that  ihe  was  gotten  with  child  by 
a  ghoft,  and  that  an  angel  told  her  fo,  would  fhe  be  believed?    Cer- 
tainly flie  would  not.     Why  then  are  we  to  believe  the  fame  thing  of 
another  whom  we  never  faw,  told  by  nobody  knows  who,  nor  when, 
nor  where?  How  ftrange  and  inconfiftent  is  It,  that  the  fame  circum- 
flances  that  would  weaken  the  belief  even  of  a  probable  ftory,  fhould 
be  given  as  a  motive  for  believing  this  one  that  has,  upon  the.  face  of 
it,  every  token  of  abfolute  ImpolTibility,  and  impofture..;  .^,,.,^,^ 

The  flory  of  Herod  deftroying  all  the  children  under  two  years 
old,  belongs  akogether  to  the  writer  of  the  book  of  Matthew  j  and 
not  one  of  the  reft  mentions  any  thing  about  it.     Had  fuqh,  a,,CHV,, . 
cumftance  been  true,  the  univerfality  of  it  mufl  have  made  It  known 
to  all  the  writers;  and  the  thing  would  have  been  too  flriking,,tQ* 
have  been  omitted  by  any.     Thj  writer  tells  us,   that  Jefus  efcaped 
this  daughter,  becaufe  Jofeph  and  Mary  were  warned  by   ai?  angel^ 
to  flee  with  him  Into  Egypt;  but  he  forgot  to  make  provifion  fbv.  ; 
John,  who.  was  then  under  two  y^ars  of  age.  /  John,  however,  who,, 
llaid  behind,  fared  as  well  as  Jefus,  >^hofied;  and  therefore  the  ftory 
circumflantially  belles  Itfelf.  ;  r.Aq';    'at    ai   >':iiil' 

Not  any  two  of  thefe  writers  agree  in  reciting,  exadly.  In  ihtfamch 
•words,  the  written  infcription,  iliort  as  it  Is,  which  they  tell  us,  was 
put  over  Chri.^  when  he  was  crucihed:  And  befides  this,  Mark  fay»^^ 


tX*<S^^*ji.^^^ 


J20  P  A  I  NE's    WO  R  KS. 

He  was  crucified  at  the  third  hour  (n:ne  in  the  morning);  and  John 
iays  it  was  the  fixtli  hour  (tweh'e  at  noon).* 

The  infcription  is  thus  ftatcd  in  thofe  books. 

M.'ittliew — This  is  Jefus  the  king  of  the  Jews. 

Mark— The  king  of  tha  Jews. 

Luke — This  is  the  king  of  tiie  Jews. 
^     John — Jefus  of  Nazareth  the  king  of  the  Jews. 

We  may  mrer  from  thefe  circumitances,  trivial  as  they  ?.re,,  that 
thofe  writers,  whoever  they  were,  and  in  whatever  time  they  hved, 
were  not  prefent  at  the  fcene.  The  only  one  of  the  men,  called 
aportles,  who  appears  to  have  been  near  the  fpot,  was  Pet  r;  and 
when  he  was  accufed  of  being  one  of  Jefus's  followers,  it  is  faid  (Mat- 
thew, chap.  XX vi.  vcr.  74),  '•  Then  Petrr  began  to  curfe  and  fivecn; 
f^yp^gj  I  hioiv  not  the  man  .•"  Yet  we  are  now  called  upon  to  believe 
this  fame  ^eter,  convided,  by  tlieir  own  account  of  perjury.  For 
what  reafon,  or  on  what  authority,  fiiould  we  do  this  ? 

The  accounts  that  are  given  of  the  circumftances,  that  tiiey  tell  us 
attended  the  crucifixion,   are  differently  related  in  thofe  four  books. 

The  book  afcribed  to  Matthew  fays,  "  There  n.vas  darhicfs  over  all 
the  land,  from  th^fixth  hour  unto  the  ninth  hour — that  the  Hje'il  of  the  tem- 
ple was  rent  in  tivalnfrom  the  top  to  the  bottom— that  there  ivas  an  earth- 
quahe — ihr.t  the  rocks  rent — thai  the  grai'es  opened — thr^t  the  bodies  cf 
many  of  the  faints  that  Jlept,  arofe,  and  came  out  of  their  graves  after  tlx 
refiirredion^  and  luent  Into  the  holy  city,  and  appeared  unto  manyy  »Such 
is  the  account  wliich  this  dafhing  writer  of  the  book  of  Matthew 
gives;  but  in  which  he  is  not  fupported  by  the  writers  of  the  other 
books. 

The  writer  of  th.e  book  afcribed  to  Mark,  in  detailing  the  circum- 
fiances  of  the  crucifixion,  makes  no  mention  of  any  earthquake,  nor 
of  the  rocks  rending,  nor  of  the  graves  opening,  nor  of  the  dead  men 
walking  out.  The  writer  of  the  book  of  Luke  is  filent  alfo  upon  the 
fame  points.  And  as  to  the  writer  oT  the  book  of  John,  though  he 
details  all  the  circumilances  of  the  crucifixion  down  to  the  burial  of 
Chrilt,  he  fays  nothing  about  either  the  darknefs — the  veil  of  the 
temple — the  earthquake — the  rocks — the  graves — nor  the  dead  men. 

Now  if  it  had  been  true,  that  thofe  things  had  happened;   and  i.^ 

*  According  to  John,  the  fentence  ^^uas  not  pajfed  till  abotU  ihefixih 
hour  (noon),  and  confvqnenily,  the  execution  could  not  he  till  the  nfernoon: 
But  Mark  fays  cxprefsly,  that  lie  nvas  cruclfud  at  the  third  hour  (nine 
m  the  morning  J,  chap.  15,  vcr,  25.  John,  chap.  xlx.  ver.  14. 


Part  Ii.3  AGE    OF    REASON.  lit 

the  writers  ofthofe  books  had  lived  at  the  cime  they  did  happen,  and 
had  been  the'perfons  they  are  faidtobe,  namely,  the  four  men  called 
apoftles,  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke,  and  John,  it  was  not  pofiible  for 
them,  as  true  hiftorians,  even  without  the  aid  of  infpiration,  not  to 
have  recorded  them.  The  things,  fuppofmg  them  to  have  been  fads, 
were  of  too  much  no£oriety  not  to  have  been  known,  and  of  too  much 
importance  not  to  have  been  told.  All  thefe  fuppofed  apoilles  mifft 
have  been  witnefTes  of  the  earthquake,  if  thsrvi  had  been  any  ;  for  it 
was  not  poflible  for  them  to  have  been  abfent  from  it ;  the  opening 
of  the  graves,  and  the  refurredion  of  the  dead  men,  and  their  walking  / 
about  the  city,  is  of  ftill  greater  importance  than  the  earthquake.  An 
earthquake  is  always  poiTible,  and  natural,  and  proves  nothing  ;  but 
this  opening  of  the  graves  is  fupernatural,  and  in  point  to  their  doc- 
trine, their  caufe,  and  their  apoftlefhip.  Had  it  been  true,  it  would 
have  filled  up  whole  chapters  of  thofe  books,  and  been  the  chofen 
theme,  and  general  chorus  of  all  the  writers  ;  but  inftead  of  this,  little 
and  trivial  things,  and  mere  prattling  converfations  of,  he  fold  th'is, 
?in6.J)js  fa'id  that,  are  often  tedioufly  detailed,  while  this  moil  impor- 
tant of  all,  had  it  been  true,  is  pafTed  off  in  a  (lovenly  manner,  by  a 
iingle  dafli  of  the  pen,  and  that  by  one  Avritcr  only,  and  not  fo  much 
jas  hinted  at  by  the  reft. 

It  is  an  eafy  thing  to  tell  a  lie,  but  it  is  difhcult  to  fupport  the  lie 
after  it  is  told.  The  writer  of  the  book  of  Matthew  fhould  have  told 
us  who  the  faints  were  that  came  to  hfe  again>  and  v/ent  into  the  city, 
and  what  became  of  them  afterwards,  and  who  it  was  that  faw  them ; 
for  he  is  not  hardy  enough  to  fay  that  he  faw  them  himfelf  j — whether 
they  came  out  naked,  and  all  in  natural  buff,  he-faints  and  (lie-faints ; 
or  whether  they  came  full  dreffed,  and  where  they  got  their  dreffes;  . 
whether  they  went  to  their  former  habitations,  and  reclaimed  their 
wives,  their  hu (bands,  and  their  propetty,  and  how  they  were  re- 
ceived; whether  they  entered  ejeftments  for  the  recovery  of- their 
poffeflions,  or  brought  anions  of  rr/w*  con.  againft  the  rival  interlopers;- 
whether  they  remained  on  earth,  and  followed  their  former  occupa- 
tions of  preaching  or  working;  or  whether  they  died  again,  or  went 
back  to  their  graves  alive,  and  buried  themfejves. 

Strange  indeed,  that  an  army  of  faints  fliould  return  to  life,  and  no- 
body know  who  they  were,  nor  who  it  was  that  faw  them,  and  that 
not  a  word  more  fhould  be  faid  upon  the  fubje6t,  nor  thefe  faints 
have  any  thing  to  tell  us  !  Had  it  been  the  prophets  who  (as  we  are 
told)  had  formerly  prophefied  of  thefe  things,  they  muft  have  had  a 

'^Q  '  •^'■^^^-' 


f 


J 

^    m  PA  INK'S    WOPclCS. 

*  great  deal  to  fay.    They  could  have  told  us  every  thing,  and  we  fhouM 

r  liave  had  pollhumciis  prophecies,  with  notes  and  commentaries  upon 

^    ^'  the  firft,   a  h"ltle  better  at  lealt  than  we  have  nov/i       Had   it  been 

V  J  Mofes,  and  Aaron,  and  Joflnia,  and  Samuel,  and  David,  not  an  un- 
.  ;  converted  Jew  had  remained  in  all  Jerufalem.  Had  it  been  John  the 
^  !^  Baptift,  and  the  faints  of  the  times  then  prefent,  every  body  would 
>  V  have  known  them,  and  they  would  have  out-preached  and  out-fam.ed 
\  vy  all  the  other  apoitles/^^ut  inflead  of  this,  thefe  faints  are  made  to 
k'V  ^^"P  "P  ^^'^^  Jonah's  gourd  i-i  the  night,  for  no  purpofe  at  all,  but  X& 
I  i^  wither  in  the  morning.     Thus  much  for  this  part  of  the  ftory. 

^  The  tale  of  the  refurre6lion  follows  that  of  the  crucifixion ;  and  in 
J  ^v  this  as  v.-ell  as  in  that,  the  writers,  whoever  they  were,  difarree  fo 
:     I  much,  as  to  make  it  evident  that  none  of  them  were  there. 

Vsi  The  book  of  Matthew  ilates  that  when  Chriil  was  put  in  the  fepul- 
i  ^  chre,  the  Jews  ap[)liv:'d  to  Filate  for  a  watch  or  a  guard  to  be  placed 
y  ^  over  tl :e  fepulchre,  to  prevent  the  body  being  ftolen  by  the  difciplesj 
s^  and  that  in  confequcn^e  of  tliis  requefl,  the  fepulchre  ^zvas  made  fitre, 
^'^  fcallng  the  fiom  that  covered  the  mouth,  and  fctting  a  watch.  But 
J  >y  tlic  other  books  fay  nothing  about  this  application,  nor  about  the  feal- 
;  ^  iiig,  nor  the  guard,  nor  the  watch;  and  according  to  their  accounts 
1    J  tiicre  were  none.  ■    Matthew,  however^   follows  up  this  part   of  the 

V  sj  liory  of  the  guard  or  the  watch  with  a  fecond  part,  that  I  fliall  no-      ^^ 
^j  ^  tice  in  the  conolufion,  as  it  ferves  to  deteft  the  fallacy  of  thofe  books. 

The   book  of  Matthew,  continues  it's  account,  and  fays  (chap. 
),  xxviii.  ver.  i.),  that  at  the  end  of  the  fabbath,  as  it  began  to  dawn^ 
^    towards  the  iiril  diiv  of  the  week,  came    Mary  Magdalene,  and  the 
^  other  Mdrvj  to  0  e  the  fepulchre.      Mark  fays  it  was  fun-rifing,  and 
"^  John  fays  it  vvas_dark.'l.  Luke  fays  it  was  Mary  Magdalene,  and  Jo- 
^  anna,  and  Mary  the  mother  of  James,  and  other  luomen,  that  came  to 
'  the  fepulchre  ;  and  John  ftates,   that  Mary  Magdalene^ame   alone,  ') 
\       So  well  do  tliey  agree  about  their  firit  evidence !    they  all,  however,       ^--^^ 
^        appear  to  Jiave  known  rnofl  about  Mary  Magdalene ;  fhe  was  a  wo-     1 
I        man  of  a  large  acquaintance,  audit  was  not  an  ill  conjefture  that  fhe 
\     ^ight  be  upon  the  (troll,  w--^ 

^  The  book  ©f  Matthew   goes  on  to  fay    (ver.  2.),  "And  behold 

^  there  was  a  "-reat  earthquake,  for  the  angel  of  the  Lord  defcended 
i  ^  from  heaven,  and  came  and  rolled  back  the  ftone  from  the  door,  and 
J  A/  uponjt.^^,  But  the  other  books  fay  nothing  about  any  earthquake, 
^  nor  about  the  angel  rolling  back  the  Hone,  znd  J/ 1 ting  upon  it;  and 
j  according  to  their  accounts,  there  was  v.oj^\'\'g^fdt'w^there,  Mark 
\     lays,  the  angel  was  'Mithm  the  fcpuJchre^Jhiwg  on  the  right  fide.  ^  Luke 


]      -^    ^^Ht-irSc^  <yU  t^    ^s^c^i^'^^^^j^'iCc^^U^^^^^  ^^-^ 


^? 


y 


,  ^  PartIL]  age    of   reason.  123 

'vj*  fays  there  were  two,  and  they  were  botli  ftanding  up;  and  John  fays, 
they  were  both  fitting  down,  one  at  the  h'.'aJ,  and  the  other  at  tlie 
feet. 

Matthew  fays,  that  the  angel  that  was  fitting  upon  the  ftone  on  the 

outfide  of  the  feprdchre,  told  the  two  Marys,  that  Chrift  was  rilen, 

O  and  that  the  women  went  a^Moy  quickly.     Mark  fays,  that  the  women 

/^   upon  feeing  the  flone  rolled  away,  and  wondering  at  it,  went  mto  the 

^     fepulchre,  and  that  it  was  the  angel  that  xva^Jltthig  within  on  the  right 

.;^       fide  that  told  them  fo.      Luke  fays,  it  was  the  two  angels  that  were  >*' 

J)  Handing  up  ;  and  John  fays,  it  was  Jefus  Chrift  himfelf  that  told  it  to 
'^^    Mary  Magdalene ;  and  that  flie  did  not  go  into  the.  fepulchre,  but  only 

ilooped  down  and  looked  in. 
^        Now  if  the  writers  of  thefe  four  books  had  gone  into  any  cotrt  of 


M  juftice,  to  prove  an  alihi^  (for  it  is  of  the  nature  of  an  alibi  that  is  here 

attempted  to  be  proved,  namely,  the  abfence  of  a  dead  body,  by  fu- 

\^  jpernatural  means,)  and  had  given  their  evidence  m  the  fame  contra- 

didlory  manner  as  it  is  here  given,  they  would  have  been  in  danger  of 

aving  their  ears  cropt  for  perjury,  and  would  have  juftly  deferved  it. 

itt  this  is  the  evidence,  and  thefe  arc  the  books,  that  have  been  im- 

^  -pofed  upon  the  v/orld,  as  being  given  by  divine  infpiration,  and  as  the 

(  runchangeable  word  of  God. 

r     The  writer  of  the  book  of  Matthew,  after  giving  this  account,  relates 

^  ia  ftory  that  is  not  to  be  found  in  any  of  the  other  books,  and  which  is 

^the  fame  I  have  jull  before  alluded  to. 
^    V      "  Now,  fays  he    (that  is,  after  the  converfation  the  women   had 
J^had  with  the  angel  fitting  upon  the  ftone),  behold  fome  of  the  watch 
J       (meaning  the  watch  that  he  had  faid  had  been  placed  over  the  fepul- 
^     Ichre)   came  into  the  city,  and  fliewed  unto  the  chief  priefts  all  the 
J  ^  things  that  were  done ;  and  when  they  v/ere  affembled  with  the  elders, 
C      and  had  taken  counfel,  they  gave  large  money  unto  the  foldiers,  faying, 
y  ^  Say  ye,  that  his  difciples  came  by  night,  and  itole  him  away  while  wc 
^     'Jlspt;  and  if  this  come  to  the  governor's  ears,  we  will  perfuade  him, 
J  ^  and  fecure  yon.      So  they  took  the  money,   and  did  as  they  were 
^  taught;   and  this  faying  (that  his  difciples  ftole  him  away)  is  com- 
^  wionly  reported  among  the  Jews  iinill  this  day.^^ 
^  '^       The  exprcfiion,  uiit'/I  this  day^  is  an  evidence  that  the  book  afcribed 
^       to  Matthew  was  not  written  by  Matthev/,  and  tjiat  it  has  been  manu- 
J  faftured  long  after  the  times  and  things  of  which  it  pretends  to  treat; 
Y^  for  the   exprcfiion  implies  a  great  length  of  i'ltervening  time.     It 
^       would  be  inconhftentin  us  to  ipe^k  in  this  manner  of  any  thing  hap- 
pening in  our  own  tune.     To  ^iv:?,  th;irefore,  intelligible  meaning  t;i 


►t 


W^  ^^-^  •      tr  ^0^-^  ji^  (Pe^Ov^  U^h 


1-4  PAINE's     WORKS.       {J/Lr^tJi^ 

the  exprcflion,  v/e  muft  fuppofe  a  lapfe  of  foinc  gensratiuns  at  Icait, 
for  this  manner  of  fpeaking*  carries  the  mind  back  to  ancient  time. 

The  abfurdity  ah'"©  of  the  ftory  is  worth  noticing;  for  it  fhews  the 
writer  of  tins  book  of  Matthew  to  have  been  an  exceeding  weak  and 
foohfh  rnan.  He  teils  a  ilciy,  that  contradicts  itielf  in  point  of 
pcfiibility;  for  though  the  guard,  if  there  were  any,  might  be  made  to 
fay  that  the  body  was  taken  av.ay  while  they  were  ajleep^  that  fame 
fleep  rnuft  alfo  have  prevented  their  knowing  how,  and  by  whom  it 
was  done;  and  yet  they  are  made  to  fay,  that  it  was  the  difciples  w^o 
did  it.  Were  a  man  to  tender  his  evidence  of  fomething  that  he 
ihoiild  fay  was  done,  and  of  the  manner  of  doing  it,  and  of  the  perfons 
who  C'A  it,  while  he  was  afleep,  and  could  know  nothing  of  the  mat- 
ter, fuch  evidence  could  not  be  received:  It  will  do  well  enough  for 
Tellament  evidence,  but  not  for  any  thing  where  truth  is  concerned. 

I  come  now  to  that  part  of  the  evidence  in  thofe  books,  that  rcfpedls 
the  pretended  appearance  of  Chrift  after  this  pretended  refurre6lion. 

The  writer  of  tlie  book  of  Matthew  relates,  that  the  angel  that 
v/as  fitting  on  the  flone  at  the  mouth  of  the  fepulchre,  faid  to  the  two 
Marys,  chap,  xxviii.  ver.  7,  **  Behold  Chr'iji  is  gene  before  you  htc/' 
Galilee,  there  fiall ye  fee  hhu ;  Jo,  I  have  told  you.'''  And  the  fame 
writer,  at  the  two  next  verfes  (8,  9,),  makes  Chrill  hirnfelf  to  fpeak 
to  the  lame  purpofe  to  thefe  women,  immediately  after  the  ancrei  had 
told  it  to  them,  r;nd  that  they  ran  quickly  to  tell  it  to  the  difciples; 
and  at  the  i6th  vcrfe  it  is  faid,  *'  Then  iht  ekn-tn  dijuples  ivenl  a^uiny 
I'Uo  Galilee,  into  a  mcuntr.in  where  jefjis  had  appointed  them  ;  and 
\\]\Qn  they  faw  him,  they  worflriipped  him." 

But  the  writer  of  the  booh  of  Johfflmlls  a  fiory  very  different  to 
i'lis;  for  he  fays,  chap»  xx.  ver.  19,  "  T/Jrw  the  fame  day  at  e'vernr:^^ 
hi>!P  the  fir/i-day  of  the  iveeh,  (that  is,  the  fame  day  that  Chrift  is  faid 
to  have  rifen,)  ivhen  ihe  doors  zverefljiit,  ^hcre  the  dfciples  nvtre  o.ffem- 
llsd,  for  fear  ofthejevjs,  came  J ef us  and  flood  tn  the  midfl  of  thcm.'^ 

According  to  Matthew,  the  eleven  were  inarching  to  Galilee,  to 
meet  Jeius  in  a  mountain,  by  h.i,  own  appointment,  at  thevery  time 
when,  according  to  John,  tijej  vverc  ad'cmbied  in  another  place,  and 
that  not  by  appointment,  but  in  fecret,  for  fear  of  the  Jews. 

Tl)e  writer  of  the  book  of  Luke  ccntradicls  that  of  Matthew  more 
pointedly  than  John  does;  ior  lie  fays  expreisly,  tiiat  the  meeting  W3s 
In  fcrufalem  the  evening  of  the  fame  day  that  he  (Chrift)  rofc,  and 
that  the  tf/f'iJif/'^  were //j^r.".      See  Luke,  chap.  xxiv.  ver.  13,  7,3. 

Now  it  is  not  poffible,  unlefs  wc  admit  thofe  fuppofed  difcipleg 
|.hc  right  of  wilful  lying,  that  the  writers  of  thofe  books  could  ht  ai^ 


Part  II.]  A  G  E    O  F    R  E  A  S  O  N.  i2^ 

of  the  eleven  perfons  called  difciples;  for  if,  according  to  Matthew,  the 
eleven  went  into  Galilee  to  meet  Jcfus  in  a  mountain,  by  his  own  ap- 
pointment, on  the  fame  day  that  he  is  faid  to  have  rifen,  Luke  and  John 
mull  have  been  two  of  that  eleven  ;  yet  the  writer  of  Luke  fays  ex- 
prefsly,  and  John  implies  as  rpuch,  that  the  meeting  was  that  fame 
day,  in  a  houfe  in  Jenifalem,  and  on  the  otlier  hand,  if,  according  to 
Luke  and  John,  the  eleven  were  affembled  in  a  lioufe  in  Jerufalem, 
Matthew  muit  have  been  one  of  tliat  eleven;  yet  Matthew  fays,  the 
meeting  was  in  a  mountain  in  Galilee,  and  confequently  the  evidence 
given  in  thofe  books  deflroys  each  other. 

The  writer  of  the  book  of  Mark  fays  nothing  about  any  meeting 
in  Galilee;  but  he  fays,  chap.  xvi.  ver.  12,  that  Chrift,  after  his 
refurrcvflion,  appeared  in  another  form  to  two  of  theni  as  they 
walked  into  the  country,  and  that  thefe  two  told  it  to  the  rcfidue, 
who  would  not  beheve  them.  Luke  alfo  tells  a  (lory,  in  Vv-hich  he 
keeps  Chrift  employed  the  whole  day  of  this  pretended  refurredion, 
until  the  evening,  and  which  totally  Invalidates  the  account  of  going 
to  the  mountain  in  Galilee.  He  fays,  that  two  of  them,  without 
faying  which  two,  went  th?^l  fame  day  to  a  village  called  Emmaws, 
threefcore  furlongs  (feven  miles  and  an  half)  from  Jerufaletn,  and  that 
Chrift  in  difguife  went  with  them,  and  ftaid  with  them  unto  the 
evening,  and  fupped  with  them,  and  then  vaniflied  out  of  their  fight, 
and  re-appeared  that  fame  evening  at  the  meeting  of  the  eleven  iu 
Jerufalem. 

This  Is  the  contradiiflory  manner  in  Vv-hich  the  evidence  of  this.pre- 
tendcd  re -appearance  of  Chrift  Is  ftated;  the  only  point  in  which  the 
writers  agree,  is  the  flculkingprivacy  of  that  re-appearance ;  I'or  whcthc!' 
it  was  in  the  recefs  of  a  moiiatain  in  Galilee,  or  in  a  fhut-up  houfe  in 
Terufalem,  it  was  ftill  il-rulkincr.  To  what  caufe  then  arc  we  to  aili'--ii 
this  flvulking  ?  On  the  one  bandit  is  directly  repu;Tnant  to  the  fuppofed 
or  pretended  9id,  that  of  convincing  the  world  that  Chriil  was  rifen; 
and  on  the  other  hand,  to  have  afferted  the  publicity  of  it,  would 
have  expofed  the  writers  of  thofe  books  tu  public  detedlion ;  and 
th  re  fore  they  have  been  under  the  ncccility  of  making  It  a  private 
affair. 

As  to  the  account  of  Chrift  being  fe^n  })y  more  than  five  hundred. 
hundred  at  once,  it  is  Paul  only  who  fays  it,  and  not  the  five  hundre<^ 
who  fay  it  for  themfclves.  It  is  therefore  the  teftunony  but  of  oiic 
man,  and  that  too  of  a  vna!i;  who  did  not,  according  t  J  tlus  fame  a(^- 
count,  believe  a  word  of  the  matter  himfcif,  at  the  time  it  is  faid  to 
iiave  happsnsd.     His  evidence,  fuppofing  hiiu  to  have  been  the  writer 


126  PA  iNE's    WO  R  KS. 

of  the  I  rth  chapter  of  Corinthians,  where  this  account  is  given,is  h'ke 
that  of  a  man,  who  comes  into  a  court  of  juiHce  to  fvvear,  that  what 
he  had  fworn  before  is  faife.  A  man  may  often  fee  reafon,  and  he 
has  too  always  the  right  of  changing  his  opinion ;  but  this  liberty 
does  not  extend  to  matters  of  fa(5l. 

I  now  come  to  the  lalt  fcene,  that  of  the  afcenfion  into  heaven. 
Here  all  fear  of  the  Jews,  and  of  every  thing  elfc,  muft  necefiarily 
have  been  out  of  the  queflion;  it  was  that  which,  if  true,  was  to  feal 
the  whole;  and  upon  which  the  reality  of  the  future  million  of  the 
difciples  was  to  reil  for  proof.  Words,  whether  declarations,  or  pro- 
mifes  that  paflod  in  private,  either  in  the  recefs  of  a  mountain  in 
Galilee,  or  in  a  fhut-up  houfe  in  Jerufalem,  even  fuppofmg  them  to 
have  been  fpoken,  could  not  be  evidence  in  public  ;  it  was  therefore 
ncceffary  that  tliis  iaft  fcene  fiiould  preclude  the  poffibility  of  denial 
and  difpute;  and  that  it  ftiould  be,  as  I  have  ftated  in  the  former  part 
of  the  Jlge  of  Reafon,  as  public  and  as  vifible,  as  the  fun  at  noon-day; 
at  leall,  it  ought  to  have  been  as  public  as  the  crucifixion  is  reported 
to  have  been.     But  to  come  to  the  point. — — 

In  the  firft  place,  the  writer  of  the  book  of  Matthew  does  not  fay 
a  fyllable  about  It  ;^ielther  does  the  writer  of  the  book  of  John.  This 
beinr  the  cafe,  is  it  polTible  to  fuppofe,  that  thofe  wa-iters,  who  affe£l 
to  be  even  minute  in  other  matters,  would  have  been  filent  upon  this, 
had  it  been  true  ?  The  writer  of  the  book  of  Mark  pafFes  it  off  in  a 
carelefs,  flovcnly  manner,  with  a  fingle  dafli  of  the  pen ;  as  if  he  was. 
tired  of  romancing,  or  afliamed  of  the  ilory.  So  alfo  does  the  writer 
of  Luke.  And  even  betw^een  thefe  two  there  is  not  an  apparent  agree* 
ment  as  to  the  place  where  this  final  parting  is  faid  to  have  beert. 

The  book  of  Mark  fays,  that  Chritl  appeared  to  the  eleven,  as  they 
fat  at  meat;  aliudirig  to  the  meeting  of  the  eleven  at  Jerufalem  :  he 
then  flates  the  converfation,  that  he  fays  paffed  at  that  meeting;  and 
immediately  after  fays,  (as  a  fcho(j^boy  would  finifii  a  dull  flory,)  "6's» 
then,  after  the  Lord  had  fpoken  unto  them,  he  was  received  up  into 
heaven,  and  fat  on  the  right  hand  of  God.  But  the  writer  of  Luke 
fays,  that  the  afcenfion  was  from  Bethany;  that  he  (Ghrift)  led  them 
fiyt  as  far  as  Bethany,  and  was  parted  from  them  there,  andnvas  carried 
vh  Into  heaven.  So  alfo  was  Mahomet ;  and  as  to  Mofes,  the  apoflfe 
Jude  fays,  ver.  9,  'That  Michael  and  the  Devil  df pitted  about  his  body. 
While  we  believe  fach  fables  as  thefe,  or  either  of  them,  we  believe 
unworthily  of  the  Almighty. 

I  have  now  gone  through  the  examination  of  the  four  books  afcribed 
to  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke,  and  John ;  and  when  it  is  confidered  that 


Part  Il.i  AGE    OF    REASON.  127^ 

the  whole  fpace  of  time,  from  the  crucifixion  to   what   is  called  the 
afcenfion,  is  but  a  few  days,  apparently  not  more  than  three  or  four, 
and  that  all  the  circumftances  are  reported  to  have  happened  nearly 
about  the  fame  fpot,  Jerufalem,  it  is,  I  believe,  inipoffible  to  find,  in 
any  ftory  upon  record,  fo  many,  and  fuch  glaring  abfurdities,  contra- 
di^llons,  and  falfhoods,  as  are  in  thofe  books.     They  are  more  nume- 
rous and  ftviking,  than  1  had  any  expedation  of  finding  wlien  I  be- 
gan this  examination,  and  far  more  fo  than  T  had  any  idea  of,  when 
I  wrote   the  former  part  of  the  y^ge  of  Reafou.      I  had  then   neither 
Bible  nor  TcftamxCnt  to  refer  to,  nor  could  I  procure  any.     My  own 
fituation,  ev^n  as  to  exiflence,   was  becoming  every  day  more  preca- 
rious ;  and  as  I  was  willing  to  leave  fomething  behind  m.e  upon  the 
fubjedl,  I  was  obliged  to  be  quick  and  concife.     The  quotations  I 
then  made,  were  from  memory  only,   but  they  are  correvfl;  and  the 
opinions  I   have  advanced  in  that   work,   are  the   eiTedt  of  the  mod 
clear  and  long  eftablifhed  convidion,— that  the  Bible  and  Teftament 
are  impofitions  upon  the  world; — that  the  fall  of  man,  the  account  of 
Jefus  Chrift  being  the  Son  of  God,  and  of  his  dying  to  appeafe  the 
wrath  of  God,  and  of  falvation1)y  that  ftrange  means,  are  all  fabulous 
inventions,  diflionourable  to  the  wifdom  andpower  of  the  Almighty  ;— 
that  the  only  true  religion  is  deifm,  by  which  I  then  meant  and  now 
mean  the  belief  of  one  God,  and  an  imitation  of  his  moral  chara<5ler, 
or  the  practice  of  what  are  called  moral  virtues; — r.nd  that  it  was  upon 
this  only  (fo  far  as  religion  is  concerned)  that  I  rcfied  all  my  hopes 
of  happinefs  hereafter.     So  fay  I  now — -and  fo  help  me  God. 

But  to  return  to  the  fubject. — Though  it  is  impoiTible,  at  this 
diftance  of  time,  to  afcertain  as  a  fa6l,  who  were  the  writers  of  thofc 
four  books  (and  this  alone  is  fufficient  to  hold  them  \\\  doubt,  and 
where  we  doubt  we  do  not  beheve),   it  is  not   diiiicult  to  afcertain  {^ 

negatively,  that  they  were  not  written  by  the  perfoas  to  whom  thev 
"are  afcribed.       The  contradictions   in  thofe  books  dcmoiiilrate  two        ^J 
ihinijs. 

Firft,  that  the  writers  cannot  have  b^n  cyc-witneflls  and  ear-wit- 
nefTes  of  the  matters  they  relatc,^or  tliey  would  have  related  them 
without  thofe  conti-adift^ons  ;  and  confequently  that  the  books  havs 
not  been  written  by  the  perfons  called  apoilles,  who  are  fuppofed  to  \ 

have  been  witnefies  of  this  kind.  >^ 

Secondly,  that  the  writers,  whoever  they  were,  have  not  av^ed  in 
concerted  mipofitioos;  but  each  writer,   feparately  and  individually  ^ 

for  himfelf,  and  without  the  knowledge  of  the  other.   '\) 

The  fame  evidence  that  applies  to  prove  the  oae,  applies  equally  ta 


% 


ii8  P  A  INE*s    WO  R  KS. 

prove  both  tliefe  cnfes ;  that  is,  that  the  bocks  were  not  wrlttefi  by 
the  men  called  apollles,  and  alfo  that  thev  are  not  a  concerted  Impo- 
fition.  As  to  infpiration,  It  is  akogether  out  of  the  queftion ;  we  may 
as  well  attempt  to  unite  truth  and  fahliood,  as  inrpiratioR  and  con- 
tradition. 

If  four  men  arc  eye-witnefHes  and  ear-winelTes  to  a  fcene,  they  will 
Without  any  concert  among  them,  agree  as  to  the  time  and  place, 
when  and  where  that  fcene  happened.  Their  individual  knowledge 
of  the  thing,  e^ich  one  knowing  it  for  himfelf,  renders  concert  totally 
iinnecclfary ;  the  one  will  not  fiiy  it  was  iw  a  mountain  in  the  country, 
and  tlic  other  at  a  lioufe  in  town  ;  the  one  will  not  fay  it  was  at  fun- 
rife,  and  the  other  that  it  was  dark.  For  in  whatever  plac^  it  was, 
and  at  whatever  time  it  was,  they  know  it  equally  alike. 

And  on  the  other  hand,  if  four  men  concert  a  ftory,  they  will  make 
their  feparate  rekitions  i>f  that  uory  agree  and  corroborate  each  other 
to  fupport  the  vrhcle.  That  rorcerfc  fupplies  the  v^-ant  of  faci:  in  the 
one  cafe,  as  the  knovv'Icdgc  of  the  fail  fupercedes,  in  tlie  other  cafe, 
the  neceiTity  of  concert.  The  fame  contradiclions,  therefore,  that 
prove  there  has  been  no  concert,  prove  alfo,  that  the  reporters  had  na 
knowledge  of  the  faft  (or  rather  of  that  which  they  relate  as  a  fa6\), 
and  detefl  alfo  tlie  fajfliood  of  their  reports.  Thofe  books,  therefore, 
have  neither  been  v\Titten  by  the  m.en  called  apoftles,  nor  by  impoftors 
in  concert.     How  then  have  they  been  written  ? 

I  am  not  one  of  thofe  who  are  fond  of  believing  there  is  much  of 
-that  which  is  called  wilful  lying,  or  lying  originally,  except  in 
the  cafe  of  men  fetting  up  to  be  prophets,  as  in  the  Old  Teilament;  for 
prcphefying  is  lying  profefTionally.  In  almoft  all  other  cafes,  it  is 
rot- difficult  to  difcover  the  progrefs,  by  which  evenfimple  fuppofition, 
with  the  aid  cf  credulity,  will  m  tima  grow  into  a  lie,  and  at  laft  be 
told  as  a  facl;  and  v,'henever  we  find  a  charitable  reafon  for  a  thing 
of  this  kind,  v>e  oiipht  not  to  indulge  a  fevere  one. 

The  ftory  of  Jefus  Chriil  appearing  after  he  was  dead,  is  the  ftory 
of  an  apparition  ;  futh  as  timid  im.agination  can  always  create  in  vifion, 
?.nd  credulity  believe.  Storks  of  this  kind  had  been  told  of  the 
affafllnation  of  Julius  C^far  not  many  years  before,  and  they  gene- 
rally have  their  origin  in  violent  deaths,  or  in  execution  of  innocent 
perfons.  In  cafes  of  this  kind,  compafiion  lends  it's  aid,  and  benevo- 
lently flretches  the  flory.  It  gees  on  a  little  and  a  little  farther, 
till  it  becomes  a  mojl  ctrta'm  truth*  Once  ftart  a  ghoft,  and  credulity 
fills  up  the  hiftory  of  it's  life,  and  affigns  the  caiife  of  it's  appearance; 
cntf  tc41s  it  ©ne   way,  t.rxther  another  way,   till  there  are  as  many 


PartJL]  age    of    reason.  129 

ftories  about  the  ghoil,  and  about  the  proprietor  of  the  ghoft,  as  there 
are  about  Jefus  Chrift  in  thefe  four  books. 

The  ftory  of  the  appearance  of  jefu".  Chrift  is  told  with  tliat 
ftrange  mixture  of  the  natural  and  the  impoflible,  that  diftinguifhes 
a  legendary  tale  from  fadl.  He  is  reprefent*?d  as  fuddenly  coming 
in,  and  going  out  when  the  doors  wer€  fliut,  and  cF  vanilliing  out 
of  fight,  and  appearing  again,  as  one  would  conceive  of  an  unfub- 
ftantial  vifion;  then  again  he  is  hungry,  fits  down  to  meat,  and  eats 
his  fupper.  But  as  thofe  who  tell  ftories  of  this  kind,  never  provide 
for  all  the  cafes,  fo  it  is  here :  they  have  told  us,  that  when  he  aiofe, 
he  left  his  grave  clothes  behind  him;  but  they  have  forgotten  to 
provide  other  clothes  for  hfm  to  appear  in  afterwards,  or  io  tell 
us  what  he  did  with  them,  when  he  afcended ;  whether  he  ftript  all 
off,  or  went  up  clothes  and  all.  In  the  cafe  of  Elijah,  they  have  been 
careful  enough  to  make  him  throu'^  down  his  mantle ;  how  it  happened 
not  to  be  burnt  in  the  chariot  of  fire,  they  alfo  have  not  told  us.  But 
as  imagination  fupphes  all  deficiencies  of  this  kind,  we  may  fuppofe, 
if  we  pleafe,  that  it  was  made  of  falamahder's  wool, 

Thofe  who  are  not  m.uch  acquainted  with  ecclefiaftical  hiftorv-  may 
fuppofe,  that  the  book  called  the  New  Teftament  has  exiitcd  ever  fince 
the  time  of  Jefus  Chrift,  as  they  fuppof-'  that  the  books  afcribed  to 
Mofes,  have  exifted  ever  fince  the  time  of  Mofes.  But  the  fadl  is  hifto- 
rically  otherwife ;  there  was  no  fuch  book  as  the  New  Teftament, 
till  more  than  thre^lTundred  years  after  the  time  that  Chrift  is  faid 
to  have  lived. 

At  what  time  the  books  afcribed  to  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke,  and 
John,  began  to  appear,  is  altogether  a  matter  of  uncertainty.  Thers 
is  not  the  leaft  fiiadow  of  evidence  of  who  the  perfons  were  that  wrote 
(hem;  and  they  might  as  well  have  been  called  by  the  names  of  any 
other  fuppofed  apoftles,  as  by  the  names  they  are  now  called.  The 
originals  are  not  in  the  poIFeflion  of  any  Chriftian  church  exifting,  any 
more  than  the  two  tables  of  ftenes  written  on,  as  they  pretead,  by  the 
finger  of  God,  upon  Mount  Sinai,  and  given  to  Mofes,  y.re  ia  the 
poflcifion  of  the  Jews.  And  eve.n  if  they  were,  there  is  no  pofTibihty 
of  proving  the  hand-v^riting  in  either  cafe.  At  the  time  thofj  four 
books  were  written,  there  was  no  printing,  and  ccnfequently  there 
could  be  no  publication,  otherwife  than  by  written  copies,  which  any 
man  might  make,  or  alter  at  pleafurc,  and  call  them  originals.  Can 
we  fuppofe  it  is  confiftent  with  the  wiulom  of  the  Almighty,  to 
comniit  liimfelf  and  his  will  to  man  upon  fuch  precarious  meafis  as 


ISO  P'AINE's    WORKS. 

thefe ;  or  tliat  it  is  confident  we  fhorjd  pin  our  faitli  upon  fuels 
uncertainty  ?  We  cannot  make,  nor  alter,  noi*  even  imitate  fo  much  aS 
a  blade  of  grafs,  that  he  has  made,  and  yet  we  can  make  or  alter 
luords  ofGodf  as  eafily  as  words  of  man.* 

About  three  hundred  and  hfty  years  after  tlie  time  that  Chrifl:  h 
faid  to  have  lived,  fereral  v.-ritingsof  the  kind  I  am  fpeakingof,  w£re 
fcattered  in  the  hands  of  divers  iridividuals^  and  as  the  church  had 
begun  to  form  itfelf  into  a  hierarchy,  or  church  government  with 
temporal  powers,  it  {et  it fclf  about  eoUefting  them  into  a  code,  a^, 
we  now  fee  them.,  called  the  Nenv  Tefiament.  They  decided  by  vote, 
as  I  iiave  before  faid  in  the  former  part  of  the  ^'Ige  of  Reafon^  which 
of  thofe  writings,  out  of  the  colle6lion  they  had  made,  fhould  be  the 
'word  of  Gody  and  which  fiiould  not.  The  rabbins  of  the  Jew^s*  had 
decided,,  by  vote„  upon  the  books  of  the  Bible  before. 

As  the  obJ£6l  of  the  church  was,  as  is  the  cafe  in  all  national 
.eftablifliments  of  churchesy  powr-  and  rerenue,  and  terror  the  means 
it  ufed ;  it  is  coniifient  to  f  uppofe,  thrvt  the  moft  miraculous  and 
wonderful  of  the  writings  they  had  colkded,  iiood  the  bell  chance 
of  being  votcd^  And  as  to  the  authenticity  of  the  booksj  the  vets- 
Jlands  in  the  place  of  It }  for  k  can  be  traced  no  higher. 

Difputes,  however,  ran  high  among  the  people  then  calling  them- 
felves  Chriilians;  not  only  as  to  points  of  do6lrine,  but  as  to  the  au- 
t][ieiiticity  of  the  books..  In  the  contcit  between  the  perfons  called 
^t-  Auguftine,  and  Faulle,  about  the  year  400,  the  latter  fays,  "  the 
books  called  the  Evangeiiib,  have  been  compofed  long  after  the  times 
of  the  apo {lies,  by  fome  obfcure  m.cn,  who  fearing  that  the  world 
would  not   give   credit  to  their  relatiQn  of  matters^  of  which  they 

:  %.7'he  forma-  part  of  the  Age  of  Reafon  h^^  not  been  pulJj/Ijed  /wa- 
'■carsydnd  there  is  already  an  exprejfion  in  if,  that  is  not  mine.  The  eX' 
pre/lion  is.  The  bock  of  Luke  v.'as  carried  by -a  m.ajority  of  one  vore 
only.  //  ^^y  ^^  true,  hut  it  is  not  I  that  have  faid  it.  Some  perfouy 
ivho  ini'^ht  know  <fthnt  circumflance,  has  added  it  in  a  note  at  the;  bottom  of 
the  ■ba^e  of  forrx  of  the  editions,  printed  either  in.  England,.cr  m  ^m'e^ica  ; 
and)  he  printer/^  after  thaty  have  eredied  it  into  'the  lody  of  the  worh^  and 
niade  me  the  author  sf  it.  If  ttns  has  happened  vSiihin  fuch  a  JI:ort  fpacs 
of  time,  not'ivitlfianding  the  aid  of  printing,  ivhich  prewiits  the  alteration 
of  copies  individually  ;  what  may  not  have  happened  in  a  much  grjater 
kngih  oflme'invhen  there  nvas  no  printing^  and  when  dnj  man  who  cp:dd 
writcyxould  male  a  written  copy,  and  cdfl  it'an  original,  by  Matih^vj. 
MarhLtiie^or  John?-  \ 


Part  II.]  AGE    OF    REASON.  131 

'^ould  not  be  informed,  have  publifhed  them  under  the  names  of  the 
apoftles;  and  which  are  fo  full  of  fottifhnefs  and  difcordant  relations, 
tltat  there  is  neither  agreement,  nor  conneftion  between  them.'* 

And  in  another  place,  addrclling-  himfeif  to  the  advocates  of  thofe 

books,  as   being  the  word  of  God,  he  fays,    "  It  is   thus  that  your 

predeceffors  have  infertcd,  in  the  fcripturLs  of  our  Lord,  many  things, 

which,    though   they  caiTy  his  name,   agree  not  with  his  doftrine. 

This  is  not  furprifing,y7«i:(?  that  <iue- have  often  proved,  that  thefe  things 

liave  net  been  written  by  himfeif  nor  by  his  apoftles,  but  that  for  the 

greateft  part  they  are  founded  upon  tales,  upon  vague  reports,  and  put 

together  by  I  know  not  what,  half- Jews,  v/ith  bul   little  agreement 

between  them  ;  and  which  they  have  neverthelefs  publiflied  under  the 

names  of  the  apoftles  of  our  Lord,  and  have  thus  attributed  to  them 

their  own  errors  and  their  lies,^'* 

The  reader  will  fee  by  thefe  extracts  that  the  authenticity  of  the 
books  of  the  New  Teftament  was  denied,  and  the  books  treated  as 
tales,  forgeries,  and  lies,  at  the  time  tliey  were  voted  to  be  the  word 
of  God.  But  the  interefl  of  the  church,  with  the  afliftance  of  the 
faggot,  bore  down  the  oppofition,  and  .at  laft  opprefTed  all  inveftiga- 
tion.  Miracles  followed  upon  miracles,  if  we  will  believe  them,  and 
men  were  taught  to  fay  they  believed,  whether  ther  belie  .ed  or  not. 
Bu:  (by  v»'ay  of  throwing  in  a  thought)  the  French  revolut-"on  has 
excommunicated  the  church  from  the  power  of  working  miracles;  fhe 
has  not  been  able,  with  the  aluftance  of  all  her  faints,  to  work  ont 
miracle  fince  the  revolution  began:  and  as  (he  never  ftood  in  greater 
need  thaa  now,  we  may,  withor-t  the  aid  of  divination,  coficlu^e,  that 
all  her  former  miracles  are  tricks  and  lies.f- 

'*  I  have  taken  thefe  iiuo  extraai  from  Boulatiger^s  Hife  of  Paid, 
'written  in  French.  Boulunger  ha.r  quoted  them  from  the  ivrii'ingsof 
Augujline  aga'infi  Faiijle,.  to  luhlch  he  refers, 

f  Boidanger,  in  his:  Life  of  Si.  Paul,  has  colledcdfrom  the  eccJeJiaJtica! 
hlJlories,andthe  ivritings.  cf  the  fathers, ms  they  are  called,  feveraJ  matters, 
<U}hich  JJje-w  the  opinion.':  that  prevailed  among  the  dijftrcnt  fe&s  of 
Chriflians,  at  the  time  the  'Tejlamcjit,  as  we  no'wfee  it,nvas  voted  to  be  the 
word  of  God.  The  foUo-vjing  extraSIs  are  from  the  fecond  chapter  of  {hat 
ivorh. 

**  The  Marcion'fts  (a  Chrifiianfci)  ajjitred  that  fhe  evangclifls  tver: 
fdlcdvAih  flip  lies.  The  Manichtions,  ivho  formed  a  very  numerous  fei^ 
at  the  commencement  of  Chriflianiiy ,  rf^jecled  as  falfe  all  the  New  Tefta- 
ment ;  andfievjsd  other  -juriling  >  quite dife rent ,  that  they  'gave  for  aufhentic. 


t3»  PAINE^s    WO^KS, 

When  we  confider  the  lapfe  of  more  than  three  hundred  yea^f 
intervening  between  the  time  that  Chrift  is  faid  to  have  lived,  and 
the  time  the  New  Tellament  was  formed  into  a  book,  we  muft  fee, 
even  wTthout  the  affiftance  of  hiftorical  evidence,  the  exceeding  un- 
certainty there  is  of  it's  authenticity.  The  authenticity  of  the 
book  of  Homer,  fo  far  as  regards  the  authorfhip,  is  much  better 
eftabh'fhed  than  that  of  the  New  Teftament,  though  Hom.er  is  a 
thoafand  years  the  more  ancient.  It  was  only  an  exceeding  good 
poet  that  could  have  written  the  hook  of  Komer,  and  therefore  few 
men  only  could  have  attempted  it ;  and  a  man  capable  of  doing  it, 
would  not  have  thrown,  away  his  own  fame,  by  giving  it  to  another. 
In  like  manner,  there  were  but  few  that  could  have  compofed  Euclid's 
Elements,  becaufe  none  but  an  exceeding  good  geometrician  could 
have  been  the  author  of  that  work. 

But  with  refpefi:  to  the  books  of  the  New  Tellament,  particularly 
fuch  parts  as  teU  us  of  the  refurreilion  and  afcenfion  of  Chrift,  any 
perfon  who  could  tell  a  ftory  of  an  apparition,  or  of  a  man\t  ivalkingi 
could  have  made  fuch  books ;  for  the  ftory  is  moft  wretchedly  told. 
The  chance,  therefore,  of  forgery  in  the  Teftament,  is  millions  to 
one  greater  than  in  the  cafe  of  Homer  or  Euclid.  Of  the  numerous 
priefts  or  parfons  of  the  prefent  day,  birtiops,  and  all,  every  one  of 
them  can  make  a  fermon,  or  tranllate  a  fcrap  of  Latin,  efpecially  if 
it^ has  been:  tfaniiated  a  thouiand  times  before;  but  is  there  any 
amongft  them  thatcan  write  poetry  like  Homer,  or  fciencelike  Euclid? 
the  fumtotul  of''<C-patfon's  learning,  with -very  few  exceptions,  is  aj?^ 

'•"■"  '-■''-    t---'-^-   ■      ■  ■.  ,,-^   £.'..:; o/li  Ci:!.:;^ 

'^he  Chrhiihictks ^  Tike  the  Marc ioni/ls ,  adrallted  riDtthe-ASi  of  the 
j^pojlifs.  The  Eucrat'ics  and  the  Senyentans  adopted  neither  the  Alls,  nor 
ihl^j^p'iflles  of  Raul.  Chryfojiome^  in  a  homily ^  ivhich  he  mads  iit>on  the 
jdih  ■of^pheApoJlksy  fays^  ikai  in  his  tiniey  about  the  year  ^oo,  many 
pe&pis  hrie'tO'  nothing  either  of  the  author,  or  of  the  hooh,  St.  Irene,  fwho 
^'Vsd  before  that  time,  reports  that  the  J^alentinians,  like  fcveral  other 
\  fe^s  of  the  Chriflians,  accufed  ihc  fcribtures  of  being  filled  nvith  errors, 
imperfeBiom,  and  contradidions.  The  Ehionifls,  or  Na^arines,  who 
4v€¥i't.he  fyji  Chri/lians,  rejected  all  the  Epifles  of  Paul,  and  regarded 
htrjii  'ds  animpoftqr.  They  report,  among  other  things,  that  he  iOM  origii-^ 
itaUy  n-pdgan,  that  he  came  to  yervfalcm,  tvhere  he  lived  fame  ti?n^  ;  and 
tJxit  having  a  mind  to  marry  the  daughter  of  the  high-priejl,  he  caufed 
himfelfto  be  circumcifed ;  but  that  not  being  able  to  obtain  her,  he  quarrelled 
'with  iht\Je^!(yand  wrote  again  [I  circumcifion,  and  agairifi  the  obfefva* 
4llf>H'bf  the fikkitfif.  and i^gainji all  legate  •£•; 


Part  II.]  AGE"   OF    REASON.  i$^ 

ab,  and  hie,  hoec,  hoc ;  and  their  knowledc^e  of  fcience  is,  three  times 
one  is  three;  and  this  is  more  than  fuflicient  to  have  enabled  them, 
had  tliey  hVed  at  the  time,  to  have  written  all  the  books  of  the  New 
Teftament. 

As  the  opportunities  of  forgery  were  greater,  fo  alfo  was  the  in- 
ducement, A  man  could  gain  no  advantage  by  writing  under  the_ 
name  of  Isomer  or  Euclid;  if  he  could  write  equal  to  them,  it  would 
be  better  that  he  wrote  under  his  own  name;  if  inferior,  he  could  not 
fucceed.  Pride  would  prevent  the  former,  and  impoffibility  the  latter* 
But  with  refpe6l  to  fuch  books  as  compofe  the  New  Teftameiit^  all 
the  inducements  \yere  on  the  fide  pf  fongery.  The  bell  imagined 
hiftory  that  could  have  been  made  at  the  diftance  of  two  or  three- 
hundred  years  after  the  time,  could  not  have  pafTed  for  an  ongmal 
under  the  name  of  the  real  writer,*  the  whole  cjiaace  of  fuccefs  lay- 
in  forgery;  for  the  church  wanted  pretence  for  it's  new  do6irine,  and 
truth  and  talents  were  out  of  the  queftipq. 

'  But  as  it  is  not  uncommon  (as  before  obfervcd)  to  relate  flories  ofj 
perfons  lualking  after  they  are  dead,  and  of  ghofts  and  apparitions  of 
fuch  as  have  fallen  by  fome  violent  or  extraordinary  means ;  and  as  the 
people  of  that  day  were  in  the  habit  of  believing  fuch  things^  anc^Hy^. 
the  appearance  of  angels,  and  alfo  of  devils,  and  of  their  getting^ 
into  people's  inhdes,  and  fliaking  them  like  the  fit  of  an  ague,  andoif 
their  being  caft.  out  again  as  if  by  an  emetic;  (Mary  Magdalene,  tke 
book  of  Mark  tells  us,  had  brought  up,  or  been  brought  ito  bed  of^^- 
feven  devils;)  it  was  nothing  extraordinary  that  fome  ilpty  of  this 
kind  ihould  get  cibroad  of  the  perfon  called  Jefus  Chrift,  and  after- 
wards become  the  foundation  of  the  four  books  afcribed  to  Matth<^w, 
Marlf,  Luke,  and  John.  Each  v/riter  told  the  tale,  as  he  heard  it,  or 
thereabout,  and  gave  to  his  book  the  name  of  the  faint,  or  the  appj1;le* 
whom  tradition  had  given  as  the  eye-witnefs.  It  is  only  upon  this 
ground  that  the  contradi6lions  in  thofe  books  can  be  accounted  for  5. 
and  if  this  be  not  the  cafe,  they  are  downright  impoikionsjk  lies,  and 
forgeries,  without  even  the  apology  of  credulity. 

•'vThat  they  have  been  written  by  a  fort  of  half  Je\ys,  as  th^  fore- 
going quotations  mention,  is  difcevnible  enou.gh,  VTbe  freque^it 
references  made  to  that  chief  alTafr^u  and  irjipo Ptor,  Mofes,  and  to  the^ 
nien  called  prophets,  ellablilhcs  thiti  point ;  and  on  the  other  hand,  thq 
church  has  complimented  the  fraud,  by  admitting  the  Bible  and  the 
Teftament  to  reply  to  each  other.  Between  the  Chriftisin-Jew,  and 
the  Chriftian-Gentile,  the  thing  called  a  prophecy,  and  the  thing  pro- 
phefied  of;  the  type,  and  the  thing  typified;,  the  fign,  and  th^  thin^ 


134  P  A  I  N  E's    WO  R  KS. 

fignified;  have  been  induftrioiifly  rummaged  up,  and  fitted  togetlier 
like  old  locks  and  picklock-keys.  The  ftory,  foolifhly  enough  toldj. 
of  Eve  and  the  ferpei>t,  and  naturally  enough  as  to  the  enmity  be- 
tween men  and  ferpents;  (for  the  ferpent  always  bites  about  the  heel, 
becaufe  it  cannot  reach  higher;  and  the  man  always  knocks  the  fer- 
pent about  the  heacU  as  the  moft  effeftual  way  to  prevent  it*s  biting;)*' 
this  foolifh  ftory,  I  fay,  has  been  made  into  a  prophecy,  a  type,  and 
a  promife  to  begin  with  ;  and  the  lying  impofition  of  Ifaiah  to  Ahaz, 
That  a  'virgin fhmild  conceive  and  hear  a  fon,  as  a  fign  that  Ahaz  fnould 
conquer,  when  the  event  was,  that  he  was  defeated  (as  already  noticed 
in  the  obfervations  on  the  book  of  Ifaiah,}  has  been  perverted,  and 
made  to  ferve  as  a  v/inder-up. 

Jonah  and  the  v/hale  are  alfo  made  into  figns  and   types.      Jonah 
is  Jefus,  and  the  v.diaie  is  the  grave;  for  it  is  faid,    and  they  have  made 
Chrift  to  fay  it  of  himfelf,)  Matt.  chap.  xii.  ver.  40,  "  For  as  Jonah- 
was  three  days  and  three  nights  m  the  whale's  belly,  fo  fliall  the  fon  of 
man  be  three  days  and  three  nights  m  the  heart  of  the  earth."      But  it 
happens  aukwardly  enough  that  Chrift,  according  to  their  own  account, 
was  but  two  nights  and  one  day  in  the  ^ave;  about  36  hours  inftead 
0172;  that  is,  the  Friday  night,  the    Saturday,  and  the  Saturday;^ 
!iight;  fcr  he  was  up  on  the  Sunday  morning,  by  fun-rife  or  before. 
But  as  this  fits  quite  as  well  as  the  bite  and  the  kick  in  Genefis,  and  the- 
'Dtrgmy  and  hery&«  in  Ifaiah,  it  will  pafs  in  the  lump  of  orthodox  things. 
Thus  much  for  the  hiftorical  part  of  the  Teftament,  and  its  evidences,. 

;- .      THE  EPISTLES  OF  PAUL. 

The  Epiftles  afcribed  to  Paul,  being  fourteen  in  number,  almofb 
fill  up  the  remaining  part  of  the  Teftament.  V/hether  thofe  epiftles 
were  written  by  the  perfon  to  whom  they  are  arc  afcribed  is  a  matter 
of  no  great  importance,  fince  that  writer,  whoever  he  was,  attempts 
to  prove  his  doftrine  by  argument.  Ke  docs^  not  pretend  to  have 
been  witnefs  to  any  of  the  fcenes  told  of  the  refurre61ion  and  the 
afcenfion,  and  he  declares  that  he  had  not  believed  them. 

The  ftory  ofhis  being  ftruck  to  the  ground  as  he  was  journeying 
to  Damafcusi    has  nothing   in  it  miraculous  or  extraordinary  ;^Ke? 
efcaped  with  life,  and  that  is  more  than  many  others  have  done  wHo 
have  been  ftruck  with  lightning  :   and  that  he  fliould  lofe  his   iigKt 

*'-«//  Jhall  hruife  thy\xt2i^  and  thou  Jh  all  brulfe  his  he^l/'  Gensfig, 
chap.  iii.  vtt?f^-i' 


PartIL]        age  of  reason.  i^s 

for  three  days,  and  be  unable  to  eat  or  drink  during  that  time,  is 
nothing  more  than  is  common  in  fuch  conditions.  His  companions 
that  were  with  him  appear  not  to  have  fuffered  in  the  fame  manner, 
for  they  were  well  enough  to  lead  him  the  remainder  of  the  journey  ; 
neither  did  they  pretend  to  have  feen  any  vifion. 

The  charadier  of  the  perfon  called  Paul,  according  to  the  accounts 
given  of  him,  has  in  it  a  great  deal  of  violence  and  fanaticifm;  he  had 
perfeciited  with  as  much  heat  as  he  preached  afterwards  ;  the  ftroke 
he  had  received  had  changed  his  thinking,  without  altering  his  condi- 
tution ;  and  either  as  a  Jew  or  a  Chriftian  he  was  the  fame  zealot. 
Such  men  are  never  good  moral  evidences  of  any  dodtrine  they  preach. 
They  are  always  in  extreme:^,  as  well  of  a6lion  as  of  belief. 

The  dodlrine  he  fets  out  to  prove  by  argument  is  the  refurreflioii 
of  the  fame  body,  and  he  advances  this  as  an  evidence  of  immortality. 
But  fo  much  will  men  differ  in  their  manner  of  thinking,  and  in  the 
conclufions  they  draw  from  the  fame  premifes,  that   this  doftrine  oi 
the  refurreclion  of  the  fame  body,  fo  far  from  being  an  evidence  of 
immortahty,  appears  to  me  to  furnifli  an  evidence  againft  it :  for,  if  ,li 
have  already  died  in  this  body,  and  am  raifed  again  in  the  fam.e  body 
in  which  I  have  died,  it  is  prefumptive  evidence  that  I  iliall  die  again, . 
That  refurredion  no  more  fecures  me  againfl  the  repetition  of  dying, 
than  an  ague  fit,  when  pall,  fecures  me  againfl  another.     To  believe-" 
therefore  in  immortality,  I  mufl  have  a  more  elevated  ide^f  thg-U  i§     } 
contained  in  the  gloomy  do6lrine  of  the  refurreftion.  rnum  eudT 

Befidcs,  as  a  matter  of  choice,  as  well  as  of  hope,  I  had  rather  hari^ 
Bjbettex^ody  and  a  m.erexonverrient  form,  than  the  prefent.     Every 
animal  in  the  creation  excels  us  in  fomething.     The  winged  in fedts, 
without  mentioning  doves  or  eagles,   can  pafs  over  more  fpace,  and 
with  greater  eafc,  in  a  few  minutesj^than  man  can  in  an  lipjir.-.  -The,;, 
glide  of  the  fmaileft   fifn,   in  proportion   to  it^s  bulk,   exceeds  ,u^,iq,j,^, 
motion,  almoil  beyond  comparifon,  and  without  wearinefs.      Even  thq,. 
fluggifli  fnail  caji  afcend  from  the  bottom  cf  a  dungeon,  where  ma.n^» 
by  the  want  of  that  ability,  would  perifh ;  and  a  fpider  can  launch  jti^l^^ 
from  the  top,  as  playful  amufement.     The  perfonal  powers  pf  njaa,^^^. 
fo  limited,  and  his  heavy  frame  fo  little  conftruclrled  to  extenfive  en- 
joyment,  that  there  is  nothing  to  induce  us  to  wiHi  the  opinion' r)£,j 
Paul  to  be  true.      It  is  too  little  for  the  magnitude  of  the  fcp»er^.t(^grj^ 
mean  for  the  fublimity  of  thefubject.  t;  >  J  -  vf;ii 

But  all  other  arguments  apart,  the  confcioufnefi  of  exlflence  is  the 
only  conceivable  idea  that  v/e  can  have  of  another  life  ;  and  the  con- 
tinuance of  that  confcioufacfs  is  immortahtr.     The  confcioufnefis  4vf .  ,. 


136  1^  A  iNE's    WO  H  ICS. 

exiftcnce,  or  the  knowing  that  we  exiil,  is  not  neceflarily  confined  to 
the  fame  form,  nor  to  the  fame  matter,  even  in  this  life. 
.      We  have  not  in  all  cafis  the  fam.e  form,  nor  in  any  cafe  the  fame 
matter  that  compofed  our  bodit-^  twenty  or  thirty  years  ago;  and  yet 
we  are  confcious  of  being  the  fame  perfons.      Even  legs  and  arms, 
which  make  up  alm.oil  half  the  human  frame,  are  not  neceflary  to  the 
confcioufnefs  of  exiilence.     They  may  be  loft,   or  taken  away,  and 
the  full  confcioufnefs  of  exiftence  remain  ;  and  were  their  place  fup- 
. plied  by  wings  or  other  appendages,  we  cannot  conceive  that  it   could 
alter  our   confcioufnefs  ot  exiftcnce.      In   fhort,   we  know  not  how 
niuch,  or  rather  how  little,  of  our  compofition  it  is,  and  how  exqui- 
litely  fme  that  little  is,  that  creates  in  us  the  confcioufnefs  of  exiftence  ; 
and  all  beyond  that  is  like,  the  pulp  of  a  peach,  diftin6l  and  feparate 
from  the  vegetative  fpeck  in  the  kernel. 

Who  can  fay  what  exceeding  fine  a6lion  of  fine  matter  it  is,  that 
produces  a  thought  in  •  hat  we  call  the  mind  ?  And  yet  that  thought, 
when  produced,  as  I  now  produce  the  thought  I  am  writing,  is 
capable  of  becoming  immortal,  and  is  the  only  produclion  of  men 
that  has  that  capacity. 

Statues  of  brafs  or  marble  will  periih ;  and  ftatues  made  in  imita- 
tion of  them  are  not  the  fame  ftatues,  nor  the  fame  workftianfhip,  any 
more  than  the  copy  of  a  picSlure  is  the  fame  picture.  But  print  and 
reprint  a  thought  a  thoufand  times  over,  and  with  miaterials  of  anv 
kind,  carve  it  on  wood,  or  engrave  it  on  ftone,  the  thought  is  eternalb; 
and  identically  the  fame  thought  in  every  cafe.  It  has  a  capacity  of 
unimpaired  exiftence,  unaffected  by  change  of  matter,  and  is  effentially 
diftind,  and  of  a  nature  different  from  every  thing  clfe  that  we 
know  of,  or  can  conceive.  If  then  the  thing  produced  has  in  itfelf, 
a  capacity  of  being  immortal,  it  is  more  than  a  token  that  the  power 
that  produced  it,  vvhich,is,the  felf-iame  thing  as  confciournefs  of 
exiilence,  can  be  imm.ortal  alfo;  and  that  independently  of  the  mat- 
ter it  wafS,firft,  con  ne6led  with,  as  the  thought  is  of  the  printing;  or 
writing,  it  firft  appeared  in.  The  one  idea  is  not  more-  difficult  to 
believe  than  the  other;  and  we  can  fee  that  one  is  true. 

.  That  the  confcioufnefs  of  exiftence  is  not  dependent  on  the  fame 
form,  or  the  fanje  matter,  is  dcmonftrated  to  our  fenfes  in  the  works 
«f  the  creatioq,  fo  far- as  our  fcnfes  are  capable  of  receiving  that  de- 
monftratioa.  A  very  numei  r.us  part  of  the  animal  creation  preachesto 
us,  far  better  than  Paul,  the  belief  of  a  life  hereafter.  Their  little  life 
relcmbles  an  earth  and  a  heaven,  a  prefent  and  a  future  ftate  :  and 
cymprifva,  if  it  may  be  fo  exprcffcd,  imrjaortality  ia  miv.ialuie. 


Pa,!<  t  II.]  AGE    OF    R  E  A  S  0  N.  t^7 

The  mo  ft  beautiful  parts  of  the  creatlcnj  to  o'jr  eyes,  are  the 
winged  inffcis;  and  they  are  not  fo  originally.  They  acquire  that 
form  and  that  Iiiimit-ible  brilliancv  bv  proi^rcflive  changes.  Tlie 
liow  and  creeping  caterpillar -wcrrn  of  to-day,  Tiaifco  in  a  •:  v/  days  to 
a  torpid  figure  and  a  llate  reftmbling*  death;  and  in  the  nc't  cliange 
comes  forth  in  all  the  nriniatu'-e  magniuceuce  of  life,  a  fptehdld  liut- 
terily.  No  refcmblance  of  tiie  former  creature  remains;  every  iliihg 
is  changed;  all  his  powers  are  new,  and  life  is  to  hii^^.another  thing. 
We  cannot  conceive  that  the  coafcioufnefs  of  exiftence  is  no.  die 
fame  in  this  ilate  of  the  aiiiirjal  as  before:  v/hy  then  mule  1  believe 
that  the  refurreftion  of  the  fame  .body  is  necelTary  to  coniii.ue  t  me 
tiie  confcioufnefs  of  exillenee  hereafter  ? 

In  thii  former  past  of  the  ^"/gc  cf  Reafvn  T  have  called  th.e  creation 
the  true  and  only  i-eal  word  of  God;  and  thio  iaHance,  or  this  text, 
VA  tiie  book  of  creation,  not  only  flicws'to  ug  that  tliis  tiiiing'niay  l>e 
fo,  but  that  it  is  fo ;  and  that  the  belief  of  a  future  ilate  is  a  rs.Uonal 
^W/.y,  founded  upon  fa  s  viRble  on  the  creation;  for  it  is  not  more 
diHiciilt  to  believe  that  we  fhall  exill  hereafter  in  a 'better  l^ate'ahd 
form  than  at  prefent,  than  that  a  worm  diftuld  f>ecdme  a  bilttcrnV,. 
ai^B^iuit  the  dunghill  for  the  atmofplitrc,  if  we  did  not  kiib-.v  it  as 'a 

x\s  to  .tlie  doubtful  jargon  afcribed  to  Paul  in  the  i  5  th  ichap'cr  of 
I  Corinthians,  which  makes  p:irt  of  th.c  biiriai  ferviceof  fome'^Tlriiuiiiis,: 
it  i?  as  detlitr.te  of  meaning-  as  the  tolling  ofthe  bellafthe  funeral.  *  It 
explains-  nothing  to  the  ^-d^rilaiMing^ -k'nifjlMf^ff^Bd^ifn^  W'^ii^ 
imagination;  biir  leaver  the  reader  to  lin(3'yny'itl'<^an'i'rig^'1if  fit^c^^^ 

"  All  fleHi,"  fhys  he,  *'  is  not  the  fime  J^efhV  -Tlltli¥is'btili!lc%  dT 
rjien,  anetiier   of  fiflic;:,   and  another  of  birds.'*'       An'd' v</hat  th'61? 
nothitig;-  -  A  cook  could  have  faid  as  much.       "  There  are  alfc,^* 
fays  he,    "  bodies  celeftia!,   and  bodies  terredriiil-j'tri^  glory ''6f  die 
celLllial  is  (?-?r,    and  the  glory   ofthe    terreftrial   li  another  J*      And 
what  then  i*  nothing.     And  \vhat  is  the  difference  ?   nothing  that  he 
lias  tr.l(j.      '<:  There  is,'*'  Giys  I;v,  "  one  glory  of  the  f;,n,'ant^  another 
glory  of  the  moon,  and  another  glory  ofthe  (fars'.''^'  •  And' what  then? 
ivothing;  except  that  he  fays  that  anejlar  a jfJeMh  from  another JIar'ui 
glory y  inReijdofdifta«ce;  :  r.d  he  might  as  well  have  told  lis,  thaf  the 
moon  did  not  iVi-at  as  bright' as  the  fun.  All  this  is  ncTthfn^"  Veitei*  thah 
the  jargon  of  a  conjuror,  who  picks  up  phrafe-s  he  does'iiot  nndeV- 
"ftand;rto    confound  the  credulous   people  who   conic  to  ha^e  Xhcit 
ffvrtune  told.     Fdefb.  and  conjurors  are  of  the  fame  trade,* '"-^'^  ''*■"-     - 

'  *  S 


nS  P  A  I  NE 's     W  O  R  K  S. 


3 


Sometimes  Paul  a.Tccls  to  be  a  naturalill,  and  to  prove  h's  fy{!(:m 
of  reriirre'5t::on  from  the  principles  of  veo-etation.  "  I'houjGol^^^  fays 
he,  "  that  ivh'ich  thou  fonx: eft  is  not  qvickensd,  except  It  f!:c."  To  Nvhrch 
one  rr.ig'it  reply  in  his  own  langano-e,  and  fay,  Thcu  fool,  i^aiil, 
that  which  thou  fowcft  is  not  quickened,  except  it  die  nut ,-  for  the 
gram  that  dies  in  the  ground,  never  does,  nor  c;n-i  A^e.^etate.  The 
living  grains  ordy  produce  the  next  crop.  Bi:t  the  metaphor,  in 
pointer  vicv/j  ig  no  fimile.      It  k  fucceifion  and  refurrection. 

The  progrefs  cf  an  animal,  from  one  itate  of  being  to  another,  as 
from  a  worm  to  a  butterfly,  applies  to  the  cafe;  but  this  of  the  grrin 
does  not;  and  fnewj,  Paul  to  liave  been,  wh.at  he  fays  of  ethers,  afrjiL 

Whether  the  fcjurteen  epidies  afcribed  to  Paul  were  written  by  him 
or  not,  is  a  !r,::ttcr  cf  indilTerence  ;  they  are  either  argumentative  or 
dogmatical;  and  as  the  argument  is  defective,  and  the  dogmatical 
part  is  micreiy  preiimiptivej  it  figniiies  not  whio  wrote  them.  And 
the  fame  m^av  be  laid  for  the  rensainhig  parts  of  the  TcRam.ent.  It 
is  not  ur-on  the  Epiftles,  but  upon  what  is  called  the  GofDel,  ccn- 
tained  in  the  four  books  afcribed  lo  Matthev.',  Mark,  Lukr,  and 
John,  and  upon  ihe  pr^  ended  prophecies,  that  the  theory  of  the 
church,  calling  itfelf  the  Chriilian  church,  is  founded.  The  ^piliks 
arc  dependent  upon  thofe,  aiid  mull;  follow  their  fate;  for  if  the  ilory 
of  Tefus  ChniL  be  fabulouG,  all  reafoning  founded  upon  it,  as  a  fup- 
pofed  truth,  muit  fail  with  it. 

We  know,  from  hiitory,  that  one  of  the  principal  leaders  of  this 
church,  Athanafuie^,  lived  at  the  time  tlie  New  Tellament  was  formed; 
and  vve  know  tilfo,  from  the  abfurd  jargon  he  lias  left  U";,  under  the  name 
of  a  creed,  tlie  character  of  the  men  who  formed  the  Nev/  Tella- 
ment;''^ and  we  know  aifo  from  the  fame  hiilory,  that  the  authenticity 
of  the  books,  of  wliicli  itis  compofed,  was  denied  at  the  timre.  it  is 
upon  the  vote  of  fucli  as  Athanafjus,  that  the  Teflament  was  decreed 
to  be  the  word  of  God ,.  and  nothing  can  prefent  to  us  a  more  llrancre 
idea,  than  that  of  decreeing  the  word  of  God  by  vote.  Thofe  who 
reft  their  faith  upon  fuch  authority,  put  man  in  tlie  place  of  God,  and 
have  no  true  foundation  for  future  happinefs.  Credulity,  however, 
is  net  a  crime ;  but  it  becomes  criminal  by  refilling  convit^tion.  It  is 
ftrangliny  in  the  wom.b  of  the  confcience  tlie. efforts  it  m.akcs  to 
afcertaiu  tr  !th.  We  (liould  never  force  belief  upon  curftlves.in  any 
thing. 

'*   Athanafiiis  itinJi   acccrJ'nig  to  the  churJ:  rhrr-iolvgy^'hi  //k'  year 

37  ^- 


Part  II.]  AGE    OF    REASON.  139 

I  here  clore  the  fuhjcd  on  tiie  Old  TeHamcnt,  iind  the  New. 
The  evidences  I  have  produced,  to  prove  them  forgeries,  is  extraAed 
from  the  books  themfelvcs,  and  afts,  like  a  two-edged  fword,  either 
way.  If  the  evidence  be  denied,  the  aiitheniirity  of  the  fcripture  is 
denied  with  it;  for  it  is  fcripture-evidencc;  and  if  the  evidence  be 
admitted,  the  authenticity  of  tlie  ];ooks  is  difprovcd.  The  contra- 
dictory impoffibih'tics  contained  in  the  Old  Teftament,  and  the  New, 
put  thern  in  the  cafe  of  a  man  wiio  fv^ears  for  and  agauijl,  Eitlier 
evidenc^e  convicis  Iiim  of  perjnry,  and  e./aally  deflroys  reputation. 

Should  the  Bible  and  TelUment  hereafter  fall,  it  is  not  I  that 
have  been  the  cccafion.  I  liave  done  i;o  more,  than  extraft  the 
evidence  from  the  confufed  mafs  of  matters  with  which  it  is  mixed, 
and  arrange  that  evidence  in  a  point  of  1  glit  to  be  clearly  (cen,  and 
eafily  comprehended  :  and  having  done  this,  I  leave  the  reader  to 
judge  for  himfelf,  as  I  have  judged  for  myfclf. 

CONCLUSION. 

In  the  former  part  of  the  Jige  of  Reafon,  I  have  fpoken  of  the 
three  fraud?,  myfciy,  ?nirdcle,  ?Sx6.  praphcfy :  and  as  I  liave  feen  nothing 
in  any  of  the  anfwers  to  that  work,  that  in  the  leaft  affccls  what  I  have 
there  faid  upon  thcfe  fubjcLits,  I  (liall  not  encumber  this  lecond  part 
with  additions,  that  are  not  necei'ary. 

I  have  fpoken  alio  in  tlie  fame  work  upon  what  is  called  nw/W/W, 
and  ha'/e  (hewn  the  abfurd  mifapplicatioa  of  that  term  to  the  books  qf 
the  Old  Teftament,  and  the  New:  for  certaitily  revelation  is  out 
of  the  queftion  n\  reciting  any  thing  of  whicli  m.aji  has  bcea  .thea<5iQr 
or  the  witncfs.  That  which  a  man  has  done  or  feen  needs  ijpircvelai- 
tion  to  teil  him  he  has  done  it,  or  feen  it,  for  he  knovvs  it  already  ;  nor 
to  enable  him  to  tell  it,  or  to  write  it.  It  is  ignorance,  or  impoiition, 
to  apply  the  ternv  revelation  ia  fueh  cafes  ;  yet  the  Bible  and  Teila- 
ment  arc  clafledundertliis  fraudulent  defcription- of  being  all  revcJai'ion. 

llevelation  then,  fo  far  as  the  term  has  relation  betv.'cen  God  and 
maii,  can  only  be  applied  to  fomtthing  which  God  rcvei^ls  of  his  a/i// 
to  man  ;  but  though  the  power  of  the  AJmighty,  to  m.akc  fuch  a  com- 
mur.ication,  is  ncceflarily  admitted,  becaufe  to  that  powt^i-  all  tluugs 
arc  pofTible,  yet,  the  thing  fo  revealed  (if  any  thing  ever  was  re- 
vealed, and  wliich,  by  the  Iwe,  it  ir.  impofiible  to  prove)  is  rcvclatioa 
to  the  perfon  only  to  nvlum  it  Is  lucak.  Kis  account  of  it  to  another 
is  not  revelalioir ;  and  v^hoever  puts  faith  in  that  account,  ])uts  it  in 
the  man  from  whom  'Ji'-  ^co'int  vomj,*!  ;  r:;!  ihat  man  m:iv  have  bec«i 


S 


) 


H^  ^.^-  !  N  E  '  5     W  o  R  jT  g, 

t]ec?*v.cd,  or  !Tny  I^ave  dreaniQcl  h  ;  cr  lie  may  be  au  impodor,  dv;^f 
may  lie.  There  is  no  pcfubk  criterion  whereby  to  judge  ofi]:^ 
trut-A  o'i  what  he  tells;  fc,\  even,  the  mor.^lity  of  ft  woiJd  be  no  proof 
of  reve^at:-n.  in  ai!  Uich  cmts,-  the  prober  «ii{\ver  wo  aid  be,  "  t^Faen 
/:■  ;/;.",  /  •zv,^i-:hdlsnis  it  to  he  rcvflatlmi  ;  hut  it  is  not,  avd 
cann      ■-  ::>hr't  upon  me  to  lcUei;cit  to  he  rcvelm:';n  before  :  ne<:hcr  is 

it  proper  tLti-  I JJsonJd  'crlc  the  nvord  cj  man  cs  .he  ^vcrd  of  Goo\  nvti 
put  man  in  the  pLue  oj^  God.''  ,  Tft-s  is  the  manner  inv:hirb  I  have 
ipQi-icn  of  revelation  m  A'Z  former  part  of  the  Jn^e  of  Reap'-:  :  and 
\viiica.  wliuc  it  rtverenli'iliy  cwimits  reve]?V:oa  ::s  a  poiuble  Unne^,  be- 

I  V.  Ui'^,       ,         ^Uiv.   ivil'^.j    lO  li.e  /  viilliS-' fit-\  ■  ctli    L;litii,5    tl;>-    ,?C)Ai!D.-t,   iu   pie- 

vents.tli.^;  iii>p.>i^tiii:^a;.of|0'ie  :r.a!i  vi]>on  u'luthcr,  and  precludes  the 
A\icked  ufe  of  pr^^tend^d  re)mJutio:% 

But  thci:,e,hj;.j[Be^kii;>g  ft^if  roj^klf,  I  *Juir.  adir^ft  the  pGfTibih'ly  of 
revelation  ;  l  totaliy  difoeliete,  <thjft  the  xihiiighty  ever  did  comitiu- 
a  I  n  cate  arsy  taing  to  man,  bv  nuy  mod'-'or  freecii  In  any  langnncj^e,  or 
lbyany;k:nd  cf  viii-;n;  or  appcararice*  or  by  cinv  means  \v]i;ch  our 
rfenf;'^  arc  capable  of  rec  'ivii;;^,  otlierwffc  than  by  theuniverial  difphiy 
\of  liiixCelf  in  tlie  vvorks  oi  crt?;tio:i,  and  by  that  repugnance  wc  feel 
jin  n.5]t-felv^s  to  bad  acti;,  n^.  and  dii ;;.r:fition  to  g( -od  ones. 

T-h€Hti«->ft  deteuabic  wici^ednefs,  the  moll:  horrid  cruelties,  and  tlid 
j^r^QteD:  mjfeiesj- that  h.avc  afnicied  tlie  hnman  r:ice,  haire  had  their 
origin.in  ith-is  tkliig  caHcd  revelation,  or  revealed  rclipon.  It  has 
beenthc  iTioCldilhonourablebtlief  againft  the  charac-ier  of  tlicDiviniLV, 
andthe;,moll  dv*(lrii£tive  to  morah'ty,  and  the  peace  and  happinefs  of 
man,  t^mt  ever  wii^  pror.airated  lince  mi!ibee;an  to  exilL  It  is  better,- 
tar  better,  that-.  Ave  adiriitred,  if  it  were  pofiible,  a  thoufand  devilo 
ro  roa:li<!jtd'*^^e,;.ajid.t.p.,p3"each  publicly  the  doltrine  of  devils,  if  there 
were  any  fi;ch,  than  tl-.at  we  permitted,  one  uich  impollor  or  m.onller 
?.«;  Mofesi,  Jofhiii,  Samuel,  and  tlie  Birjle-piopheta  to  come  with  the 
p:e'.!j!>d«i:d  wordof  God  in  his  mouth,  and  have  credit  among  iis. 

WheacearoTe  all  the  horrid  aSafTmations  of  v^'hole  natior-f;,  of  men. 
wornen,  and  infants,  with  v/iiich  the  Bible  is  filled,  and  the  b'oody 
Derfcc-citicms,  and  torir.res  unto  death;,  and  rehgious  AVcirs,  that  fmcc 
t  hat  tinie:  have- la'dJ-'unipe  in  blood  and  alhcr, ;  whence  aro-fe  they, 
but  fj-orritbis  ijf.pious  thing  called  revealed  religion,  arid  thismonflrous 
belief ji.tli^.t,. God  has  fppken  to  man  ?  The  lies  of  the  Bi])lehave  been 
the  caufe  o'fielif  one,  and  the  iie.s  of  the  Tcllament  the  other. 

Sonzd-,Ci:\riRia:i3  ])rctend  that  Chndianity  was  not  edabliihed  by 
the  rvw>f,fl;  b.ut.of  what  period  of  time  dp  they  fp^^ak  ?  It  was  im- 
iiofTible  tliat  t^jcfhe  men  ihould  l^gin  with  the  fword;    tliey  had  not 


Pa^t  II.]  AGE    OF    Ri:  A  SON.  ur 

thcpowcr ;  but  no  fooner  were  the  profeflfors  of  Chriri:.*c>n{tyiu^:ic;enl!)r 
powerful  to  employ  th'e  fword,  tlian  they  did  fo,  and  the  flake  and 
l\\2  facTCOt  too;  and  Mahomet  could  not  do  it  fooner.  By  the  fartie 
fpirit  thr.t  Peter  cut  ovT  the  enr  of  the  higli  prieil's  fervnnt  (ii"  the 
ftory  bo  true),  ho  woidd  cut  oiF  his  head,  and  the  head  of  lu"^  mailer, 
had  he  been  able.  Befides  this,  Chriilianity  grounds  iifelf  origuiaily 
upon  the  Bible,  and  the  Bible  was  ellablifiied  altogether  by  the  Iv/ord, 
and  that  in  the  word  ufe  of  it;  not  to  terrify,  but  to  extirpate. 
The  Jews  made  no  converts  ;  butchered  all.  The  Bible  is  the  fire 
of  the  Teftamer.t,  and  both  are  called  the  wor^/  rfGori,  The  Chriftians 
road  both  books;  t.he  miniflerfi  preach  from  both  books;  and  tlus 
tiling  called  Chriftianity  is  made  up  of  both.  It  is  then  falfc  to  fay, 
that  Chriftianity  was  not  eft^ibliihed  by  t]\e  fword. 

The  oiily  fed  that  has  not  perfecuted  are  the  quakers;  ar.d  the 
only  reafon  that  can  be  p-iven  for  it,  is,  that  they  are  rath.er  De'lts 
than  Chriilians.  They  do  not  believe  much  about  Jefus  Clirill,  and 
they  call  the  fcriptures  a  dead  letter.  Had  they  called  them  by  a 
worfe  name,  they  ha^i  been  nearer  the  truth. 

It  Ig  incumbent  on  every  man  v;ho  reverencer.  the  character  of  tl-t* 
Creator,  and  who  wifhes  to  lefltMi  the  cataiO[;ue  of  artif-ciai  miferies, 
and  remove  the  caufe  that  has  fown  perfecuticns  thick  amoi^g-  niaiV- 
kind,  to  exDel  all  ideas  of  revealed  relio-ion  as  a  daiirrerous  IierHr,  an(H 
an  impious  fraud.     What  is  it  th.at  we  have  learned  frorr  this  pre* 
teudecl  thing  called  revealed  religion? — nothing  that  in  ufeful  to  ma':*i  JA'-^    T 
and  every  thing  that  is  di(honourable  to  his  Maker.      What  is  it  t.h<;?  '  Vm  ^  jj> 
Bible  teaclics  us? — rapine,   criwlty,   and  murder.       "Wh.at   is  it  th--*    ^  "^^  fe 
'^^reftament  teaches   us  ? — to  believe  that   the   Alm.i'jrhtv   committfol   I    H  \ 
drbauchery  with  a  woman,  engaged  to  be  niarried  ;  and  thebehef  i)f  ^.l    v 
this  debauchery  is  called  faith.  ;  »j^  /'  ( 

As  to  the  fragments  of  morality  that  are  irregulaily  and  tiptfii'y*  1  r" 
feattered  in  thofe  bookc;,  they  make  no  part  of  thij  pretended  tkiag,  h| 
revealed  religion.  They  are  the  natural  didat^s  of  confcience,  ar.]il 
the  bonds  by  vv-hich  fcicicty  is  held  together,  and  without  which,  it 
cannot  CKill ;  and  arc  nearly  the  fame  in  all  religions,  and  in  all  focietie?* 
The  Tcibament  teaches  nothing  new  upon  tliis  fubjcCl ;  and  wlvcre  it 
attempts  to  exceed,  it  becomes  mean,  and  rfdic.dor.s.  Tlie  dodrir.i: 
of  not  retaliating  injuries  is  mud  i  better  expreffeG  in  Proves  br,,  w])ich 
is  a  colledion  as  well  from  the  Gentiles,  as  the  Jews,  thnn  ft  is  in  tiie 
Teftament.  It  is  therefaid,  Proverbs  r.X'v*.  ver.  2T,  *^  If  th'we eminy 
h  h'.itigiyy^'ivc  /'//.'?  bread  to  eat ;  and  if  he  be  :hhfy,  give  Lir.i  avr^'r/i 


H2  PAINE's     WORKS. 

^r;/7i;"*  but  when  it  is  faici,  as  in  the  Teftament,  ^'  If  a  man  Jnuir 

thee  on  the  right  cheek,  inrn  to  him  the  other  alfo  ;''  it  is  affafnnating  the 

dignity  of  forbearance,  and  linking  man  into  a  fpaniel. 

:  Loving  enemies  h  another  dogma  of  feigned  morah'iy,  and-  lias  be- 

fides  no  meaning.      It   is    incumbent  on  man,  as  a  movahil:,  that  lie 

does  not  revenge  an  injury  ;  and  it  is  equally  as   good  m   a  poh'tical 

fenfe,  for  there  is  no  end  to  retahation  ;  each  retah'ates  on  the  other:, 

rmd  calls  it  juftice;  but  to  Jove  in  proportion  to  the  injury,  if  it  could 

be  done,  would  be  to  oiier  a   premium   for  a  crime.      Belides,  the 

word  enemies  is  too  vague  and   general  to  be  ufed  in  a  moral  maxim, 

which  ought  always  to   be  clear  and  defined,  hke  a  proverb.      If  a 

man  be  the  enemy  of  another  from  miibike  and  prejudice,  as  in  the 

Cv^fe  of  religious  opinions,  and   fomctimes   in   politics,   that  man  is 

different  to  an   enemy    at  heart,  with  a  criminal  intention  ;  and  it  is 

incumbent  upon  us,  and  it  contributes  alfo  to  our  own  tranquiaty, 

that  we  put  the  befi  condrudtion  upon  a  thing  that  it  will  bear.     BiTt 

even  this  erroneous  motive  in  him  makes  no  motive  for  love-  on  tbe 

other  part ;  and  to  fa)--  that  we  can  love  voluntarily,    and  vv'ithout  a 

motive,  is  morally  and  phyfically  impofiible. 

Morality  is  injured  by  prefcribing  to  it  duties,  that,  in  the  firft 
place,  are  impofiible  to  be  performed  ;  and,  ]^  they  could  be,  would 
be  produClive  of  evil:  or,  as  before  faid,  be  premiums  for  ctine.  The 
maxim  of  doing  as  nve  nvavM  he  done  unto  do  s  not  include  this  ilrange 
Qocirinc  of  loving  enemies  ;  for  no  man  expeCis  to  be  loved  himftlf 
for  bib  crime,  or  for  his  enmity. 

...  ^'  According  to  ivhat  is  called  Chrifl'sfernion  on  the  m  unf  in  the  tooh 
€j  MattiicCu,  nvhere^  among  fonie  good  things  ^  a  great  deal  of  this  feigned 
morauiy  is  iniroduccd,  it  is  there  exprefsly  faidj  that  the  do  Br  hie  of  for- 
hearance-iOr  of  not  rdaJia'ing  injuries,  was  not  any  part  of  the  doftrine 
of  the  Jews ;  and  as  this  doBrinc  is  found  in  Pro-verbs,  it  mnfl,  according 
in  thaijiitltmeht,  ha'vs  been  copied  from  the  Gentiles,  from  ivhovi  Chrifl 
leafffH^  W-J'''^''^hofe  n;rn,  tvhom  ye^.vijh  and  Chrfiinn  idolators  have 
ahufvely  called  heathens,  had  much  better  and  clearer  ideas  ofjrijlice  and 
rnoralif^^ffff^i  are  to  be  found  in  the  Old  "Tiflam^nt^fofar  as  it  is  yenvifo ; 
or  hrthi  ■Nc^v. ''  The  anfiver  of  Solon  on  the  quflion,  *'  Which  is  the 
moii>'pwfc'&  "popular  govertimcnt  "  has  never  been  exceeded  by  any  man 
fnch'lAs  ii^.el*^s  containing  a  maxim  of  pQlilical  morality.  <*  Tliaty^;)^^ 
/jf,  whcpe'th^  Icuft  injury  doiie  to  the  mcaineil  individual,  is  'c6n- 
fid^rred  as'au'irrfult  on  the  whole  cGnHitution."  Schn  lived  dhovf 
KOO years  before  Ctrijl. 


Part  II.]  A  G  E   O  F   R  E  A  S  O  K.  143 

Tliofe  who  preach  this  doclrine  of  loving  enemies,  are  in  general 
the  greatell  perfcciuors,  and  they  adl  conrillently  in  fo  doing;  for  the 
doftrine  13  hypocritical;  and  it  is  natural  that  hypocrifyfhould  aft  the 
reverfe  of  what  it  preaches.  For  mv  own  part,  I  difown  the  doftrinc, 
and  Goifidcr  ii  a:,  a  feigned  or  fabulous  morality;  yet  the  man  does 
not  ex  ill  that  can  fay,  I  have  pcrfecuted  him,  or  any  man,  or  any 
fei  of  men,  either  in  the  American  revolution,  or  in  the  French 
revolution  ;  or  that  I  have,  in  any  cafe,  returned  evil  for  evil.  But 
it  is  not  incumbent  on  man  to  rev/ard  a  bad  a£xion  v;ith  a  good  one, 
or  to  return  good  for  evil;  and  wherever  it  is  done,  it  is  a  voluntary 
n6t,  and  not  a  duty.  It  is  alfo  abfurd  to  fuppofe,  that  fuch  doctrine 
can  make  any  part  of  a  revealed  religion.  We  imitate  the  moral 
charafter  of  the  Creator  by  forbearniG^  with  each  other,  for  he  for- 
bers  with  all  :  but  thi;s  doclrine  would  imnlv  that  he  loved  ilian, 
r.ol  in  proportion  as  he  was  good,  but  as  he  was  bad. 

If  vvc  confider  the  nature  of  our  condition  here,  we  muft  fee  there 
is  no  occaiion  for  fuch  a  thing  as  re'vealed  relig'ioti.  What  is  it  we 
want  to  know  :  Does  not  the  creation,  the  univerfe  we  behold,  preach 
to  us  the  exiflence  of  an  Almighty  power,  that  governs  and  regulates 
the  whole  ?  And  is  not  the  evidence  that  this  creation  holds  out  to 
our  fenfes  infinitely  flronger  than  any  thing  we  can  read  in  a  book, 
that  any  impofcor  might  make,  and  call  the  word  of  God  ?  As  fbr 
morality,  the  knowIed.G;e  of  it  exills  in  every  man's  confcience. 

Here  we  are.  The  exifience  of  an  Almighty  power  is  fufHciently 
denionftrated  to  us,  though  v/e  cannot  conceive,  as  it  is  iniTjoiTible M^e 
fnculd,  the  nature  and  manner  of  it*s  exiftence.  We  cannot  conceive 
how  we  came  here  ourfelvcs,  and  yet  we  know  for  a  fact  that  v/e  are 
here.  Wemuft  knov/  alfo,  that  the  power  that  called  us  into  being 
can,  if  he  pleafe,  and  when  he  pleafes,  call  us  to  account  for  the 
manner  in  which  we  have  lived  here  ;  and  therefore,  without  feekincj 
any  other  motive  for  the  belief,  it  is  rational  to  believe  that  he  will, 
fcr  we  know  beforehand  that  he  can.  The  probability,  or  even 
poflibility  of  the  thing  is  all  we  ought  to  know  ;  for  if  we  knew  it  as  11 
facl,  we  fiiculd  be  the  mere  flaves  of  terror,  our  belief  would  have 
no  merit,  and  our  bed  ai^ions  no  virtue. 

Dciun  then  teaches  us,  without  |he  poiubility  of  bein^  deceived, 
all  that  is  neccffary  and  proper  to  be  known.  The  creation  is  th<; 
Bible  of  the  deift.  He  there  reads,  in  the  hand  writing  of  the  Creator 
himfelf,  the  certainty  of  his  exiilence  ;  and  all  other  Bibles  and 
Teftaments  ai-e  to  him  forgeries.  The  probubilily  that  we  may  be 
called  to  account  hereafter,  will,  to  a  relieving  rnind,  have  tke-ia,- 


M4  P  A  I  N  E  's    \V  O  R  K  S. 

Sisencc  cf  beHef;  f(ir  it  is  not  our  belief,  or  oiiv  difbelicf,  t.Iiat  CTiti 
make  or  unmake  the  hti.  As  this  is  the  (late  we  are  in,  and  which 
it  is  proper  we  flioukl  be  in,  as  free  argents,  it  is  the  fool  only,  and 
Eot  the  philofopher,  or  even  the  prudent  men,  who  will  live  as  if  there 
were  no  God. 

But  the  belief  of  a  God  is  fo  weakened  by  being  mixed  with  the 
ftranj:^e  fable  of  tlie  Chriftian  creed,  and  with  the  wild  adventures 
relatcd-in  the  Bible.,  and  the  obfcurity  and  obfcene  nonf^jnfe  of  the 
Teftanient,  that  the  mind  of  man  is  bewildered  aa  in  a  fog.  Viewing 
rdl  thcfe  ihin|Tsin  a  confufed  niTifs,  he  coiifounds  fatl  with  fable  ;  and 
as  hex:arnot  believe  all,  he  feels  a  difpofition  to  r-ejevil  all.  But  the 
belief-of  a  God,  i.s  a  belief  diitinil:  from  all  other  things,  and  ought  | 
i:ot  to  be  confounded  with  any.  The  notion  of  a  Trinity  of  Gods 
bas  enfeebled  the  belief  of  w;^  God.  x\  multiplication  of  beliefs  acts 
as  a  divifion  of  belief;  and  in  proportion  v.s  any  tiling  is  divided,  it  is 
weakened. 

Religion,  by  fnch  means,  becomes  a  thing  of  form,  inftead  of  fafi: ; 

a  notion  ir. (lead  of  principle;  morality  is  baniilied  to  iirake  room  for 

an  imaij'inarY  thin'.?=',  called  faith,  and  this  faith  has  it's  cririn  in  a 

fuppofed  dyebauchery  ;  a  man  is  preached  inilead  of  God ;  an  execution 

^  a-s. an  ol>je<^  of  gratitude;   the  preachers   daub  themfelves  vfkh  the 

y  l-ilood,  like  a  troop  of  afTivirins,  and  pretend  to  admire  the  brilliancy  it 

give?  them ;  they  preach  a  humdrnm  fermon  on  the  merits  of  the 

c-jiCGUtion ;  then  praife  Jefus  Chriil  for  being  executed,  snd  condemn 

:,;t)ie  Jewb  for  doing  it. 

'  A  inaH,  by  hearing  all  their  nonfenfe  lumped  and  preacb.ed  together, 
c:on£ou!>da  the  God  of  the  creation  with  the  imagined  God  of 
Chrillian*'.  and  lives  as  if  there  were  none. 

Of  all  the  fyilems  of  religion  that  ever  were  invented,  there  is  none 
more  derogatory  to  the  Amighty,  mere  imedifying  to  n-san,  more 
rcpnrnant  to  reufon,  and  more  contradi<fto:T  in  itfelfthan  thisthin^i; 
called  Chriil ianity.  Too  abfurd  for  belief,  too  impoilible  to  convince, 
and  too  inconfiilent  for  pradice,  it  renders  the  heart  torpid,  or  pro- 
duces only  atlieifts  and  fanatics.  As  an  engine  of  power,  it  ferves 
the  purpofc  of  defpotifm ;  and  as  a  m.cans  of  wealth,  the  avarice  of 
prlt-ils;  but  fo  far- as  refpefts  the  good  mania  general,  it  leads  to 
nothing  here,  or  hereafter. 

The  only  rclitrion  that  has  not  been  invented,  and  that  has  in  it 
jeVerv  evidence  of  divine  originality,  is  pure  and  fimple  dtiim.  it 
muft  have  been  the  firft,  and  will  probably  be  the  laft  that  man  believes, 
.Bat  pure  and  llmple  deifra  does  not  ar.fwer  the  purpofe  of  defpotic 


.      Part  II.]  AGE    OF    REASON.  145 

S'J  government.  They  cannot  lay  hold  of  religion  as  an  engine,  but  by 
3  mixing  it  with  human  inventions,  and  making  their  own  authority  a 
>  part;  neither  does  it  anfwer  the  avarice  of  priells,  but  by  incorporating 
i  »  themfelves  and  their  fun6lions  with  it,  and  becoming,  like  the  govern- 
f  '^  ment,  a  party  in  the  fyftem.  It  is  this  that  forms  the  otherwife 
,  t  myflenoiis  connexion  of  church  and  ftate;  tiiC  church  humane,  and 
1^  the  ftate  tyrannic. 

>L  Were  a  man  imprefled  as  fully  and  as  flrongly  as  he  Ou^^t  to  be, 
^  with  the  belief  of  a  God,  his  moral  life  would  be  re^-ulated  by  the 
s:!'^  force  of  this  belief;  he  would  Hand  in  awe  of  God,  and  of  himfelf,  atiu 
I  I  would  not  do  the  thing  that  could  not  be  concealed  from  either.  To 
/^  give  this  belief  the  full  opportunity  of  force>  it  is  ncccKtXTj  that  it  acts 
-'Nf  alone.     This  is  deifm. 

But  when,  according  to  the  Chriftian  Trinitarian  fcheJne;  one  part 
of  God  is  Tcprcfented  by  a  dying  man,  and  another  part,  callc;^<  tlic 
Hply  Ghofl:,l)y  a  flying  pigeon,  it  is  impoffihle  that  behef  can  attach 
itfelf  to  fuch  wild  conceits.* 

It  has  been  the  fcherae  of  the  ChriRian  church,  and  of  all  the  other 
invented  fyftems  of  religion,  to  hold  man  in  ignorance  of  the  Creator, 
as  it  is  of  government  to  hold  him  in  ignorance  of  his  rights.  The 
fyftenls  of  the  one  are  as  falfe  as  thofe  of  the  other,  and  are  calculated 
for  mutual  fupport,  The  ftudy  of  theology,  as  it  Hands  m 
Chriftian  churches,  is  the  ftudy  of  nothing  ;  it  is  fotmded  oh 'nothing; 
it  refts  on  no  principles;  it  proceeds  by  no  authorities;  It  Has  no 
data;  it  can  demonftrate  nothing-;  and  admits  of  no  conchifioh.'  Not 
any  thing  can  be  ftudied  as  a-fcicnce,  without  our  being  in  poiTefiion 
of  the  principles  upon  wliich  it  is  founded  ;  and  as  this  is  r.ot  the  cafe 
with  Chriftan  theology,  it  Is  therefore  the  ftudy  of  nothing. 

Inftead  then  of  ftudying  theology  as  Is  now  done,  out  of  the  Bibls 
and  Teftamont,  the  meanings  of  which  books  are  always  controverted, 
and  the  authenticity  of  which  is  difproved,  it  is  necefiary  that  we  refer 
to  the  Bible  of  the  creation.  The  principles  we  difcover  there,  are 
eternal,  and  of  divine  origin  :  they  are  the  foundation  of  all  the  fcience 
that  exifts  in  the  world,  and  muft  be  the  foundation  of  theology. 

*  T/je  hook  called  the  book  of  Matthew,  fays,  chap.  tii.  ver^  16,  that 
the  Holy  Ghoft  defcended  in  the  ftiape  of  a  Dove.  It  might  as  well- 
have  fa'id  a  goof 6  ;  the  creatures  are  equally  harmlefs^  and  the  one  is  as  much 
a  nonfenfical  lie  as  the  other.  The  fecondof  AEls,  vcr-.  2,  '^^^fays^  that  if. 
defcended  in  a  mighty  rufhing  wind,  in  the  Jimpe  <?/*  cloven  tongues;  pcr^ 
haps  it  was  cloven  feet.  Such  aofurd  fluff  is  Jit  only  for  tale^  of  witchcj 
«/o/  wifzard^.  *■  T 


h6  i'aine's   wo  RKS^. 

We  can  know  God  only  through  his  work^.  We  cannot  ha^e  a 
conception  of  any  one  attribute,  but  by  following  fome  principle  that 
leads  to  it.  We  have  only  a  confufed  idea  of  his  power,  if  we  have 
not  the  means  of  comprehending  foinething  of  it's  immenficy.  We 
can  have  no  idea  of  his  wifdom,  but  by  knowing  the  order  and  man- 
Ber  in  which  it  a6ls.  The  principles  of  fcience  lead  to  this  knowledge  ; 
for  the  Creator  of  man  is  the  Creator  of  fcience,  and  it  is  through 
that  medium  'Jiat  man  can  fee  God,  as  it  were,  face  to  facp. 

Could  a  man  be  placed  in  a  fituation,  sind  endowed  with  power  of 
vii^on,  to  behold  at  one  view,  and  to  contemplate  dehberately,  the 
ftrudure  of  the  univerfe,  to  mark  the  movements  of  the  feveral  plant  ts,. 
the  caufe  of  their  varying  appeara>ices,  the  unerring  order  in  which 
they  revolve,  even  t@  the  remotefh  comet,  their  connexion  and  de- 
pendence on  each  other,  and  to  know  the  fyilem  of  laws,  eilabliflied 
by  tJie  Creator,  that  governs  and  regulates  the  whole  ;  he  would  then, 
cenceive  far  beyond  what  any  chirch-theology  can  teach  him,  the 
J)OWer,  the  wifdom,  the  vaftnefs,  the  munificence  of  the  Ci-eator : 
he  would  then-  fee,  that  all  the  knowledge  man  has  of  -fcience,  and 
that  ail  the  mechanical  arts,  by  which  he  renders  his  fituation  com- 
fortable here,  are  derived  from  that  fource :  his  mind  exalted  by  the 
'fe-i^ne,  and  convinced  by  the  faft,  would  increafe  in  gratitude,  as  it  in- 
ci-eafed  in  knowledge :  his  religion  or  his  worfiiip  would  become  united 
"with  his  improvement  as  a  man;  any  employment  he  followed,  that 
had  connection  with  the  principles  of  the  creation,  as  every  thing  of 
iigriculture,  of  fcience,  and  of  the  mechanical  arts  has,  would  teach 
him  more  of  God,  and  of  the  gratitude  he  owes  him,  than  any  theo- 
logical Chriflian  fermon  he  now  hears.  Great  objedls  infpire  great 
thoughts;  great  munificence  excites  great  gratitude;  but  the  groveling 
tales  and  dotkines  of  the  Bible  and  th^  Teflamcnt  are  fit  only  to 
€xcite  contempt. 

■  Though  man  cannot  arrive,  at  leafl  in  this  Hfe,  at  the  a6lual  fcene  I 
have  defcribed,  he  can  demonftrate  it ;  becaufe  he  has  knowledge  of  the 
principles  upon  which  the  creation  is  conftruded.  We  know  that 
tiie  greateft  works  can  be  reprefented  in  model,  and  that  the 
tmivcrfc  can  be  reprefented  by  the  fame  means.  The  fame  principles 
by  vwhich  we  meafure  an  inch,  or  an  acre  of  ground,  will  meafure  to 
raillions  in  extent.  A  circle  of  an  inch  diameter  has  the  fame 
jyeometrical  properties  as  a  circle  that  would  circumfcribe  the  univerfe. 
The  fame  properties  of  a  triangle,  that  will  demonltrate  upon  paper 
the  courfe  of  a  fhip,  will  do  it  on  the  ocean;  and  when  applied  to 
what  are  called  the  heavenly  bodies,  will  afcertain,  to  a  minute,  the 
time  of  an  eclipfe,  though  thofe  bodies  are  milli-    s  of  miles  diiiant 


Part  II.]  AGE   OF  REASON.  H7 

from  us.  This  knowledge  is  of  divine  origin ;  and  it  is  from  the  Blhle 
of  the  creation  that  man  lias  leurned  it,  and  not  from  the  ftupid  Bible 
of  the  church,  that  teaches  man  nothing.^^ 

All  the  knowledge  man  has  of  fcience  and  of  machinery,  by 
the  aid  of  which  his  exifteiice  is  rendered  comfortable  upon 
earth,  and  without  which  he  would  be  fcarcely  diftinguifhable  in 
appearance  and  condition  from  a  common  animal,  comes  from  the 
great  machine  and  ftruclure  of  the  univcrfe.  Tl:e  corflant  and 
unwearied  obfervations  of  our  anceilors,  upon  the  movements  and 
revolutions  of  the  heavenly  bodies  in  what  are  luppofed  to  have  been 
the  early  ages  of  the  world,  have  brought  this  knowledge  upon 
earth.  It  is  not  Mofes  and  the  prophets,  nor  Jefus  Chrift,  nor 
his  apoilles,  that  have  dor^e  it.  The  Almighty  is  the  great  mechanic 
of  the  creation,  the  firft  phiJofopher,  aod  original  teacher  of  all 
fcience.  Let  us  then  learr  to  reverence  our  mailer,  anc  let  us  not 
forget  the  labours  of  our  anceftors. 

Had  we  at  this  day  no  knowledge  of  machinery,  and  were  it  prihble 
that  man  could  have  a  view,  as  I  have  before  defcribed,  ot  the 
ftruAure  and  machinery  of  the  univerfe,  he  would  foou  conceive  the 
idea  of  conftrufting  fome  at  lead  of  the  mechanical  works  wt  now 
have ;  and  the  idea  fo  conceived  would  progreiTively  advance  \n 
'  practice.  Or  could  a  model  of  the  univerfe,  fuch  as  is  called  an 
orrery,  be  prefented  before  him,  and  put  in  motion,  his  mind  would 
arrive  at  the  fame  idea.  Such  an  obje(?t,  and  fuch  a  fubject,  wo'uld^ 
whilil  it  improved  him  in  knowledge  ufeful  to  him.felf  as  a  man  and  a 

*  The  Bihle-mahers  have  undertaken  to  give  us.  in  thejlrjl  chapter  of 
Gene/is i  an  account  of  the  creation  ;  and  in  doing  this  they  hav?  demon' 

Jlr ate d  nothing  hut  their  Ignorance.  They  make  there  to  ha'-)s  hsen  three, 
days  and  three  nights y  evenings  and  mornings ^  before  there  nvas  any  fun  ; 
'when  it  Is  the  prefence  or  ah  fence  of  the  fun  thai  is  the  caitfe  of  day:  and 
nighty  and  his  rifing  and  fettlng  that  of  morning  n id  evening.  Befdes  it 
is  a  puerile  and  pitiful  Ided,  to  fuppofc  the  Aiinighty  tofay,\4^t  there  be 
Light.  //  is  the  Imperative  fnanner  of  fpeaklng  that  a  conjuror  ufes^ 
ibhen  he  fays  to  his  cups  and  halls,  Prefto,  be  gone.  Longinus  calls  this 
exprejjton  the  fubllme ;  cmdhy  the  fame  rule,  the  conjuror  is  fuhlime  too,  for 
the  manner  of fpeaking  is  expreffively  and  grammatically  the  fame.     When 

'  authors  and  critics  talk  of  the  fuhlime,  they  fee  not  how  nearly  it  harder  s  on 

the  ridiculous.   The  fuhlime  of  the  critic.  Hie  fame  part  of  Edmund  Burke's 

fublime  and  beautiful,  i'>  like  a   ivind-mill  jtfi  v'lfihle  in  a  fog,    ivhich 

imagination  might  diflort  into  a  flying  mountain,    or  an  an^h angel,  or  a 

Jlociof'U-'lIdgeefe. 


V     f4S  PA  INE's    WORKS. 

4^  .  0 

,    member  of  Toclety,  as  well  as  entertaining,  afford  far  better  "matter  for 

Xj      imprefling  him  with  a  knowledge  of,  and  a  belief  in  the  Creator,  and 

I      of  the  reverence  and  gratitude  that  man  owes  to  him,  than  the  ftupid 

^  '      texts  of  the  Bible  and  the  Teftament,  from  which,  be  the  talents  of  the 

preacher  wliat  they  may,  only  ftupid  fermons  can  be  preached.      If 
\       iTian  muft  preach,  let  him  preach  fomething  that  is  edifying,  and  from 

texts  that  are  known  to  be  true. 
"^  The  Bible  of  the  creation  is  incxhauftible  in  texts.     Every  part 

of  fcience,  whether   connected  with  the  geometry  of  the  univcrfe, 
•';;;        with  the  fyftems  of  animal  and  vegetable  life,  or  with  the  properties  of 

inanimate  matter,  is  a*tex't  as  well  for  devotion  as  for  philofophy ;  for 
^  ^        gratitude,  as  for  human  improvement.      It  will  perhaps,  be  faid,  that 

if  fuch  a  revolution  in  tlie  fyftem  of  religion  take  place,  every  preacher 

ought  to  be  a  philofophcr.  Mcjl  certainly ^  and  every  houfe  of  devo- 
'■'         tfon  a  fchool  of  fcience. 

^  It  hasbe^n  by  wandering  from  the  immutable  laws  of  fcience,  and 

V        the  right  ufi^of  reafon,    and  fctting  up  an  invented  thing    called 
"^^         revealed  religion,  that  fo  many  wild  and  blafphemous  conceits  have 

l^cen  formed  of  the  Almighty.     The  Jews  have  made  him  the  affalTm 

^         of  the  human  fpecies,  to   make  room  for  the  religion  of  tiie  Jews. 

>j         The  Chrfftians   have   made  him  the  murderer  of  himfelf,  and   the 

k         founder  of  a  new  religion  to  fuperfede  and  expel  the  Jewifh  religion. 

^I-       And  to  find  pretence  and  "admillion  for  thefc  things,  they  muft  have 

fuppofed  his  power  or  his  wifdom  imperfedl,  or  his  will  changeable; 

and  the  changeablenefs  of  his  will  is  the  imperfedion  of  thejudgment. 
^i^  Thephilofopher  knows  that  the  laws  of  the  Creator  have  never  changed, 
s^  with  refpefl  either  to  the  principles  of  fcience,  or  the  properties  of 
^ J\  matter.  Why  then  is  it  to  be  fuppofed  they  have .  changed  with 
s!^        rcfpeft  to  men? 

I  here  clofc  the  fubjeft.     I  have  Ihewn,  in  all  the  foregoing  parts 

cf  this  work,  that  the  Bible  and  Teftament  are  impofttions  and  for- 
4  geries ;  and  I  leave  the  evidence  I  have  produced  in  proof  cf  it,  to  be 
'\  refuted,  if  any  one  can  do  it;  and  I  leave  the  ideas  that  are  fuggefted 
^  <  in  the  conclufion  of  the  work,  to  reft  on  the  mind  of  the  reader ;  certain 
'  ^  as  I  am,  that  when  opinions  are  free,  either  in  matters  of  government 
vj^     or  religion,  truth  will  finally  and  powerfully  prevail.  #- 


A-O*     ^WlALO 


LETTER 


TO 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON, 

President   of    the    United  States  of 
America. 


ON 


AFFAIRS  PUBLIC  AND  PRIVATE. 


t. 


By  THOMAS  PAINE, 

AUTHOU  OF  THE  V/ORKS  ENTITLED,  COMMON  SENSE^ 
RIGHTS  OF  MAN,    AGE  OF  REASON,    &C. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

PRI14TED  BY  BENJ.  FRANKLIN  BACHE,    NO.  112  MAR* 

KET  STREET. 

1796. 

^Entered  according  to  laiv,"} 


V  ,     t 


— IMj.    |.«J     ^      .».■■       ^..,,.  — >,|lf   ,l^|...l.,    [f  .-l.!.!^'— .1..X.I—  .       I  >.».».»^-^.    .  I 


THOMAS  PAINE, 


T  O 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON 


Paris,  July  2,^ih^   I79^> 

S  cenfure  isbut awkwardly  foftened  by  apology, 
I  fhail  offer  you  no  apology  for  this  letter.  The 
eventful  crifis  to  which  your  double  politics  have  con- 
ducted the  affairs  of  your  country  requires  ^n  inveili- 
gation  uncramped  by  ceremony. 

There  was  a  time  when  the  fame  of  Americaj  moral 
and  political,  flood  fair  and  high  in  the  world.  .  The 
luftre  of  her  revolution  extended  itfelf  to  every  indi- 
vidual;  and  to  be  a  citizen  of  America  gave  a  title  to 
refpedl  in  Europe.  Neither  meannefs  nor  ingratitude 
had  then  mingled  itfelf  into  the  compofition  of  her 
character.  Her  refiftance  to  the  attempted  tyranny 
of  England  left  her  unfufpe6led  of  the  one,  and  her 
open  acknowledgment  of  the  aid  flie  received  from 


(         4         ) 

JSrance  precluded  all  fufplcion  of  the  other.  The  Wafh» 
ington  of  politics  had  not  then  appeared. 

At  the  time  I  left  America  (April  1787)  the  conti- 
nental convention  that  formed  the  federal  conftitution 
was  on  the  point  of  meeting.     Since  that  time  new 
fchemesofpoIiticsandnewdiftin£tions  of  parties,  have 
arifen.  The  term  Antifederali/l  has  been  applied  to  all 
thofe  who  combated  the  defeats  of  that  conftitution, 
or  oppofed  the  meafures  of  your  adminiftration.     It 
was  only  to  the  abfoiuteneceffity  of  eilablifhing  fome 
federal  autliority,  extending  equally  over  all  theStates, 
that  an  inftrument,fo  inconfiftent  as  the  prefent  fede- 
ral conftitution  is,  obtained  a  fufFrage.    I  would  have 
voted  for  it  myfelf^  had  I  been  in  America,  or  even  for 
a  worfe  rather  than  have  had  none;  provided  it  con- 
tained the  means  of  remedying  its  defeats  by  the  fame 
appeal  to  the  people  by  which  it  was  to  be  eftablifhed. 
It  i$  always  better  policy  to  leave  removeable  errors  to 
expofe  themfelves,  than  to  hazard  too  much  in  con- 
tending againft  them  theoretically. 

I  have  introduced  thofe  obfervations,  not  osly  to 
mark  the  general  difference  between  antifederalift 
and  anti-conftitutionalift,  but  to  preclude  the  efFedtj 
and  even  the  application,  of  the  former  of  thofe 
terms  to  myfelf.  I  declare  myfelf  oppofed  to  feveral 
matters  in  the  conftitution,  particularly  to  tiie  man- 
ner in  which,  what  is  called  the  Executive,  is  foriji- 
-  ed,  and  to  the  long  duration  of  the  Senate;  and 


(      s      ) 

if  I  liTe  to  return  to  America  I  will  ufe  all  ifiy  ^-n- 
4eavour3  to  have  them  altered.*  I  alfo  declare  my- 
felf  oppofed  to  almoft  the  whole  of  your  adminlftra- 
tion  J    for  I  know  it  to  have  been  deceitful,  if  not      "*<. 
even  perfidious,  as  I  fliall  ihew  in  the  courfe  of  this 
letter.    But  as  to  the  point  of  confolidating  the  States 
into  a  federal  government,  it  fo  happens,  that  the  pro- 
pofition  for  that  purpofe  came  originally  from  myfelf. 
I  propofed  it  in  a  letter  tq  Chancellor  Livingfton  in  the 
fpring  of  the  year  1 7  3.2,*whilft  that  gentleman  was  mi- 
niiler  for  foreign  affairs.    The  five  per  cent,  duty  re- 
commended by  Congrefs  had  then  fallen  through, 
having  been  adopted  by  fome  of  the  States,  altered  by 
others,  rejed^ed  by  Rhode  Ifland,  and  repealed  by 
Virginia  after  it  had  been  confented  to.     The  prcpd- 
fal  in  the  letter  I  allude  to  was  to  get  over  the  whofe 
difficulty  at  once,  by  annexing  a  continental  legiflative 
body  to  Congrefs*,  for,  in  order  to  have  any  law  of  the 
Union  uniform,  the  cafe  could  only  be,  that  ekher 
Congrefs,  as  it  then  flood,  muft  frame  the  law,  and  the 
$tates  feveraliy  adopt  it  without  alteration,  or,  the 
States  muft  ele£l  a  Continental  Legiilature  for  the 
purpofe.  Chancellor  Livingfton,  Robert  Morris,  Go- 


♦  I  have  always  been  oppofed  to  the  mode  of  refining  Gov- 
ernment up  to  an  individual,  or  what  is  called  a  lingle  Execu- 
tive. Such  a  man  will  always  be  tlie  ciuef  of  a  party.  A  plu- 
raUty  is  far  better  :  It  cOrTibines  the  mafs  of  a  nalion  better  to- 
gether :  And  beiides  tliis,  it  is  neceli'ary  to  the  rrar.ly  niincl  cf  a 
republie,  that  it  lofes  the  debafirig  idea  cf  cbeyingan  individuii. 


(      <s      > 

^''eriieur  Morris  and  myfeif  had  a  meeting  at  the  houfe 
of  Rol>ert  Morris  on  the  fubject  of  that  letter.  There 
was  no  diveriity  of  opinion  on  the  propofition  for  a 
Continental  Legiflature.  The  only  difficulty  v/as  on' 
the  manner  of  bringing  the  propofition  forward.  Tor 
my  own  part^  as  Iconfideredit  as  a  remedy  in  referve, 
tliat  could  be  applied  at  any  time,  when  the  States fa%u 
themfdves  iVfbng  enough  to  he  put  right  (which  did  not 
appear  to  me  to  be  the  cafe  at  that  time)  I  did  not  fee 
the  propriety  of  urging  it  precipitately,  and  declined 
being  the  publiiher  of  it  myfeif.  After  this  account" 
of  a  fa£l,  the  leaders  of  your  party  will  fcarcely  have 
lUiQ  hardinefs  to  apply  to  me  the  term  of  antifederalift. " 
But  I  can  go  to  a  date  and  to  a  fa£l  beyond  this ;  for  the 
propofition  for  eiedl:ing  a  Continental  Convention  to 
form  the  Continental  Government  is  one  of  the  fub- 
jedis  treated  of  in  the  pamphlet  Common  Senfe. 

Having  thus  cleared  away  a  little  of  the  rubbifh  that 
might  other v/ife  have  lain  in  my  v/ayj  I  return  to  the 
point  of  tim.e  at  which  the  prefent  Federal  Conftitu- 
tion  and  your  adminiflration  began.  It  was  very  well 
hid  by  an  anonymous  writetin  Philadelphia,  abcut'a 
year  before  tlia-t  period,  that  '^  thirteen  Jlaves  andne'^er 
a  hoop  toUlmt  mah  a  barrel"  and  as  any  kind  of  hoop- 
ing the  barrel,  however  defc^lively  executed,  WDuld 
be  better  than  "none,  it  v/as  fcarcely  polTible  but  that 
confiderable  "advantages  muft  arife  from  the  federal 
hooping  of  the  States*-  4-t  was  with  pleafurethat  every 


(        7        ) 

iincere  friend  to  America  beheld,  as  the  natural  effe6l 
of  union,  her  rifing  profperity  ;  and  it  was  with  grief 
they  faw  that  profperity  mixed,  even  in  the  bloffom, 
with  the  germ  of  corruption.  (^Monopolies  of  every  ^ 
kind  marked  your  adminiftrationalmofl  in  the  moment 
of  its  commencement.  The  lands  obtained  by  the  re- 
volution were  lavifhed  upon  partizans  5  ^the  intereft  of 
the  difbanded  foldier  was  fold  to  the  fpeculatorj  in- 
juftice  was  a6led  under  tlie  pretence  of  faith  j  and  xm 
chief  of  the  army  became  the  patron  of  the  fraud;  J 
From  fuch  a  beginning  what  could  be  expected,  but 
what  has  happened  ?  A  mean  and  fervile  lubmifTion 
to  the  infults  of  one^^atipn,  tre^qh^fy^aijui  .ingra^/tiid? 
to  another.  ...;..>n..-j  .  ..    .  ..."  ^-.:»,-. — ;  .t^  - 

Some  vices  make  .their  approach  with  fuch  a  fplen-^ 
did  appearance,  that  we  fcarcely  know  to  what  clafsof 
moral  difliniElions  they  belong.  They  are  rather  vir- 
tues corrupted,  than  vices  originally.  But  meannefs 
and  ingratitude  have  nothing  equivocal  in  their  cha-^ 
ra£^er.  There  is  not  a  trait  in  them  that  renders  them 
doubtful.  They  are.fo or iginally_ vice,  that  they  ar€ 
generated  in  the  dung  of  other  vi^es,  and- crawl  into 
exiftence  with  the  filth  upon  their  back.  The  fugi-  -^ 
tives  have  found  prote6lion  in  you,  and  the  levee-room 
is  their  place  of  rendezvous. 

As  the  Federal  Conflitution  is  a  copy,  not  quite  fc 
bafe  as  the  original,  of  the  form  of  the  Britifh  govern*- 
ment,  an  imitation  of  its  vices  was  naturally,  to  be  ex* 


(        8         ) 

pecbed.  So  intimate  is  the  connection  hetweQufbrrn 
zndpra^icej  that  to  adopt  the  on-  is  to  invite  the  other. 
Imitation  is  naturally  progrc  JivSj  and  is  rapidly  fo 
in  matters  that  are  vicious. 

Soon  after  the  Federal  Conftitution  arrived  in 
England,  I  received  a  letter  from  a  female  literary 
correfpondent .  (a  native  of  New  York)  very  well 
mixed  with  friendihip,  fentiment  and  politics.  In 
my  anfwer  to  that  letter  I  permitted  myfelf  to  ram- 
ble into  the  wildernefs  of  imagination,  and  to  antici- 
pate what  might  hereafter  be  the  condition  of  Ame- 
rica. I  had  no  idea  that  the  pi£l:ure  I  then  drew  was^ 
realizing  fo  fail, .  and  ftill  lefs  that,  Mr,  Waihingtori 
was  hurrying  it  on.  As  the  extract  I  allude  to  iS 
congenial  v/ith  the  fubje6t  I  am  upon,  I  here  tran- 
fcribe  it. 

<«  You  touch  me  on  a  very  tender  point  when  ycii 
<*  fay,  ^tbat  my  friends  on  your  fide  the  water  cannot  be 
*^  reconciled  to  the  idea  of  my  ahandojiing  America^  even 
^^  for  my  native  England.  They  are  right.  I  had 
*«  rather  fee  my  horfe  Button  eating  the  grafs  of  Bor- 
**  dentown  or  Marrifenia,  than  fee  all  the  pomp  and 
♦'^  lliew  of  Europe»  ■ 

'*  A  thoufand  years  hence,  for  I  mud  indulge  a 
«*  few  thoughts,  perhaps  in  lefs,  America  may  be' 
**  what  England  now  is.  The  innocence  of  her  cha- 
*^  rafter,  that  won  the  hearts  of  all  nations  in  her  fa- 
*^  vour,  may  found  like  a  romance,  and  her  iaimita- 


(        9        ) 

"  ble  Virtue  as  if  it  had  never  been.  The  ruins  cf 
"  that  liberty,  which  thoufands  bled  to  obtain, 
"  may  juft  furnilh  materials  for  a  village  tale,  or  ex- 
*f  tort  a  figh  from  ruftic  fenfibiiity ;  v/hiiil  the  fafhion- 
««  able  of  that  day,  enveloped  In  diffipatibn,  ihail  de- 
<f  ride  the  principle  and  deny  the  fa6l. 

<«  When  we  contemplate  the  fall  of  empires  &  the 
^  extin£tion  of  the  nations  of  the  ancient  v/orld,  we 
^^  fee  but  little'  more  to  excite  our  regret  than  the 
^'  mouldering  ruins  of  pompous  palaces,  magnificent 
^.^  monuments,  lofty  pyramids,  and  w?Jls  and  tower^ 
««  of  tlie  moft  coftly  workmanfhip  •.  But  when  the 
^^  empire  of  America  fhall  fall,  the  fubjecl:  for  con- 
*^^  templative  forrow  v/ill  be  infinitely  greater  than 
^'  crumbling  brafs  or  marble  can  infpire.  It  will  not 
^^  then  be  faid,  here  flood  a  temple  of  vafl  antiquity, 
"  here  rofe  a  babel  of  invifible  height,  or  there  a  pa- 
«  lace  cf  fumptuous  extravagance  •,  but  here,  ah  pain- 
*^  ful  thought !  the  noblefl  work  of  human  wif- 
"  dom,  the  grandeft  fcene  of  human  glory,  the  fair 
"  caufe  of  freedom  rofe  and  fell.  Read  this,  and 
«  tiien  afk,  if  I  forget  America  ?" 

ImpreiTedjas  I  was,  with  apprehenfions  of  this  kind, 
I  had  America  conflantly  in  mind  in  all  the  publica- 
tions I  afterwards  made.  The  firft,  and  flill  niore, 
the  fecond  part  of  Rights  of  Man  bear  evident  marks 
of  this  watchfulnefs,  and  the  DilTertation  on  Firft 

Principles  cf  Government  goes  more  dire£ily  to  the 

B 


(      10      ) 

point  than  either  of  the  formero     I  now  pafs  on  to 
other  fubjecbs. 

It  will  be  fuppofed  by  thofe  into  whofe  hands  this 
letter  may  fall,  that  I  have  fome  perfonal  refentment 
againft  you  *,  I  v/ili  therefore  fettle  this  point  before 
I  proceed  farther. 

If  I  have  any  refentment,  you  mufl  acknowledge 
that  I  have  not  been  hafby  in  declaring  it;  neither 
would  it  be  now  declared  (far  what  are  private  re- 
fentments  to  the  public)  if  the  caufe  of  it  did  not  uni-te  , 
itfeif  as  v/eil  with  your  public  as  your  private  charac- 
ter, and  with  the  motives  of  your  political  condu6l. 

The  part  I  acled  in  the  American  revolution  is 
well  known  •,  I  fhall  not  here  repeat  it.  I  krK)w  alfo 
that  had  it  not  been  for  the  aid  received  from  France 
in  nieHj  money  and  fhips,  that  your  cold  and  unmi- 
iitary  conduct  "^  (as  I  fhali  flicw  in  the  courfeofthis 
letter)  would,  in  all  probability,  have  loft  America  y  zt  ^ 
kail  file  would  not  have  been  the  independent  na- 
tion flie-  now  is.  You  Hent  awav  your  time  in  the 
Held  till  the  finances  of  the  country  were  completely 
exhaulled,  and  you  have  but  little  fhare  in'  the  glory 
of  the  final  event.  It  is  time,  lir^  to  fpeak  the  un- 
difguifed  language  of  hiflorical  truth. 

Elevated  to  the  _chair  of  the  Prefidency  you  afTu- 
med  the  merit  of  every  thing  to  yourfelf,  and  the  na-  * 
turai  ingratitude  of  yout  conftitution  began  to  ap- 
pear.    You  commenced  your  Prefidential  carreer  by 


(     'I     > 

■encouraging  and  fwallowing  the  grofleft  adulation^ 
and  you  travelled  America  from  one  end — to  the  *v 
-other,  to  put  yourfelf  in  the  way  of  receiving  it.  You 
have  as  many  addreffes  in  your  cheii  as  James  the  XL 
As  to  what  were  your  views,  for  if  you  are  not  great 
enough  to  have  ambition  you  are  littk  enough  to 
have  vanity,  they  cannot  be  dire£^ly  inferred  from 
expreflionsof  your  ov/n  ;  but  the  partizans  of  your 
politics  have  divulged  the  fecret. 

John  Adams  has  faid  (and  John,  it  is  known,  v/as 
alv/ays  a  fpeiler  after  places  and  offices,  and  never 
thought  his  little  fervices  v/ere  highly  enough  paid) 
John  has  faid,  that  as  Mr.  Vf  afhington  had  no  child^ 
that  the  Prefidency  fliould  be  made  hereditary  in  the 
family  of  Lund  Vv^aHiington.  John  might  then 
have  counted  upon  fome  fme-cure  for  hiinfelf  and  a 
provifion  for  his  defcendants.  He  did  not  go  fo  far 
as  to  fay  alfo,  that  the  Vice  Prefidency  fhould  be  he- 
reditary in  the  family  of  John  Adams.  He  pi'udent- 
ly  left  that  to  (land  upon  the  ground,  that  one  good 
turn  deferves  another.* 

John  Adams  is  one  of  thofe  men  who  never  con- 
templated the  origin  of  government,  or  compre- 
hended any  thing  of  firft  principles.  If  he  lir^d,  he 
niufl  have  feen  that  the  right  to  (tt  up  and  eflablifli 
hereditary  government  never   did,   and  never    can, 


*  Two  perfo.'=«s  to  whom  John  Adams  faki  this,  told  n  e  of  it. 
■jriie  fecretary  of  Mr.  Jay  w^^  prefent  vyhen  it  was  toM  to  me. 

B    2 


(  13  ) 

exifl  in  "any  generation^  at  anytime  whatever;  that 
it  is  of  the  nature  of  treafon  ,  becaufs  it  is  an  at- 
tempt to  take  away  the  rights  cf  all  the  minors  living 
at  ihat  time,  and  of  all  fucceedlng  generations.     It 
is  of  a  d'gre^  beyond  common  treafon.     It  is  a  fin 
againil  natare.     The  equal  right    of  generations   is 
a  right  fixed  in  the  nature  of  things.     It  belongs  to 
the  fon  when  of  ae;e,  as  it  belcng-ed  to  the  father 
before  him.     John  Adams  would  himfelf  deny  tlie 
right  that  any  formxer  deceafcd  generation  could  have 
to  decree  authoritatively  a  fuccefiion  of  Governors 
over  him,  or  over  his  children  ;  and  yet  he  aiTumcs 
the  pretended  right,  treafonable  as  it  is,  of  a6ling  it 
himfelf.     His  ignorance  is  his  befh  excufe. 

John  Jay  has  faid  (and  this  John  was  always  the 

fycophant  of  every  thing  in  power,  from  Mr.  Girard 

in  America  to  Grenville  in  England)  John  Jay  has 

faid,   that  the  Senate  fhould  have   been  appointed 

for  life.     He.  would  then  have  been   fure  of  never 

wanting  a  lucrative    appointment    for   himfelf,  nor 

have  had  any  fears  about  impeachments.     Thefe  are 

the  difguifed  traitors  that  call  themfelves  federaliils.* 

Could  I  have  known  to  what  degree  of  corruption  & 

perfidy  the  adminiftrative  part  of  the  government  in 

America  had  defcended,  I  could  have  been  at  no 

iofs  to  have    underiiood    the  reu^rvednefs  of  Mr. 


*  If  Mr.  Jay  d  fires  to  know  on  what  aulhoriiy  T  f  y  tnis,  I 
will  give  that  authority  publicly  when  he  chufes  tsca^  tor  it. 


(        »3        ) 

Wafhington  towards  Tne,  during  my  imprifonment 
in  the  Luxembourg.  There  are  cafes  in  wiiich  ii» 
lence  is  a  loud  language. 

I  will  here  explain  the  caufe  of  my  imprlfcnment^ 
and  return  to  Mr.  Wall^ington  afterwards. 

In  the  courfc  of  that  rage,  terror  and  fufpicion^ 
which  the  brutal  letter  of  the  Duke  of  Brunfwick 
firft  flarted  into  exillencc  in  France,  it  happened^ 
that  almoft  every  man  v/ho  was  cppofed  to  violence, 
or  v/ho  was  not  violent  himfclf,  became  fufpe6led. 
I  had  conftantly  been  oppofcd  to  every  thing  which 
v/as  of  the  nature,  or  of  the  appearance,  of  violence  j 
but  as  I  had  always  done  it  in  a  manner  that  fhev/- 
ed  it  to  be  a  principle  founded  in  my  heart,  and  net 
a  political  manoeuvre,  it  precluded  the  pretence  of 
acculing  me.  I  v/as  reached,  however,  under  ano- 
ther pretence. 

A  decree  was  oaiTed  to  imprifon  all  perfons  born 
in  England ,  but  as  I  v/as  a  member  of  the  Conven- 
tion, and  had  been  complimented  v/ith  the  honorary 
itile  of  Citizen  of  France,  as  Mr.  Waftiington  and 
fome  other  Americans  had  been,  this  decree  fell 
fhort  of  reaching  me.  A  motion  was  afterwards 
made  and  carried,  fupported  chiefly  by  Bourdon  de 
rOife,  for  expelling  foreigners  from  the  Conven- 
tion. My  expuHion  being  thus  eiie<£l;ed,  the  two 
committees  of  Public  Safety  and  of  General  Sure- 


(  -      14         ) 

XT  '^Jy  of  which  Robefpierre  was  the  dl^latoTj  put  mc 
in  arreflation  under  the  former  decree  for  imprifon^ 
ing  perfons  born  in  England.  .  Having  thus  fhewn 
under  what  pretence  the  imprifonment  was  effeded, 
I  come  to  fpeak  of  fuch  parts  of  the  cafe  as  apply- 
between  me  and  Mr,  Waflriington,  either  as  Prefn 
dent  or  as  an  individual, 

I  have  always  confidered  that  a  foreigner,  fuch  as 
^     I  was  in  fa6l  with  refpect    to    France,  might  be  a 
member  of  a  Convention  for  forming  a  conflitu- 
tion,  without  aftefting  his  right  of  citizenfhip  in  the 
country  to  which  he  belongs,  but  not  a  member  of 
a  government  after  a  conftitution  is  formed  ;  and  I 
have  uniformly  a6led  upon  this  diftindion.     To  be 
a  member  of  a  governmenL  requires,  that  a  perfon  be 
in  allegiance  to  that  government  and  to  the  country 
locally.     But  a  conftitution  being  a  thing  of  princi^ 
pie  and  not  of  adbion,  and  vv^hich,  after  it  be  formed, 
is  to  be  referred  to  the  people  for  their  approbation 
or  rcjedrion,  does  not  require  allegiance  in  the  per- 
fons forming  and  propofmg  it  j  and  befides  this,  it 
is  only  to  the  thing  after  it  be  formed  and  eftabliihed, 
and  to  the  country  after  its  governmental  chara^ler 
is  fixed  by  the  adoption  of  a  conflitution,  that  alle- 
giance can  be  given.     No  oath  of  allegiance  or  of 
citizeniliip  was  required  of  the  members  who  com- 
-pofed  the  Convention  5  there  v/as  nothing  exifting  in 
form  to  fwear  alledance  to.     If  anv  fuch  condition 


(        15        ) 

Kad  been  required  I  could  not,  as  Citizen  of  America 
in  fa£t,  though  Citizen  of  France  by  compiimenj, 
have  accepted  a  feat  in  the  Convention. 

As  my  citizenfhip  in  America  was  not  altered  or 
diminifhed,  by  any  thing  I  had  done  in  Europe 
(on  the  contrary  it  ought  to  have  been  conddered  as 
ilrengthenedj  for  it  v/as  the  American  principle  of 
government  that  I  v/as  endeavouring  to  fpread  in 
Europe)  and  as  it  is  the  duty  of  every  government  to 
charge  itfelf  with  the  care  of  any  of  its  citizens  who 
may  happeij  to  fall  under  an  arbitrary  perfecution  a- 
broad,  and  is  alfo  one  of  the  reafons  for  which  Am- 
baiTadors  or  Minifters  are  appointed, — it  v/as  the  duty 
of  the  executive  department  in  America  to  have 
made  (at  lead)  fome  enquiries  about  me,  as  foon  as 
it  heard  of  my  imprifonment.  But  if  this  had  not 
been  the  cafe,  that  government  owed  it  to  me  on  e« 
very  ground  and  principle  of  honor  and  gratitude. 
Mr.  Wafhington  owed  it  to  me  on  every  fcore  of 
private  acquaintance,  [  I  will  not  now  fay,  friend- 
fhip  ;  for  it  has  for  fome  time  been  known,  by  thofe 
who  knov/  him,  that  he  has  no  friendfhips  ;  that  he 
is  incapable  of  forming  any  y  he  can  ferve  or  defert  a 
man  or  a  caufe  with  conftitutional  indifference  |  and 
it  is  this  cold  hermophrodite  faculty  that  impofed  it- 
felf upon  the  world,  and  was  credited  for  a  while  by- 
enemies  as  by  friends,  for  prudence,  moderation  and 
impartiality. 


-n 


{        J6        ) 

Soon  after  that  I  was  put  in  arreilation  and  ini= 
prifoned  in  the  Luxembourg,  tlie  Americans  v/ho 
v/ere  then  in  Paris  went  in  a  body  to  the  bar  of  th? 
Convention  to  reclaim  mc.  They  were  anfwersd  by 
thQ,  then,  Prefident,  Vadier,  who  has  fmce  abfcond- 
ed,  th?<.t  I luas  born  in  England;  and  it  was  fignified 
to  them  .by  fome  of  the  Committee  of  Surety  Gene- 
ral, to  whom  they  were  referred  (I  have  been  told  it 
v/as  Billaud  Varrennes)  that  their  reclamation  of  me 
was  only  the  a61:  of  individuals  without  any  aulho- 
rity  from  the  American  government. 

A  few  days  after  this,  all  communication  from 
perfons  im.prifoned  to  any  perfon  without  the  prifon 
was  cutofFby  an  order  of  ^ClQ  Police.  I  neither 
faw,  nor  heard  from,  any  body  for  (ix  months  ; 
and  the  only  hope  tiiat  remained  to  me  v/as,  that  a 

new  minifler  would  arrive  froin  America  to  fuDer- 

i. 

cede  Morris,  and  that  ht  would  be  authorifed  to  en- 
quire into  the  caufe  of  my  imprifonment.  But  even 
this  hope,  in  the  (late  to  v/hich  matters  were  daily 
arriving,  Vv^as  too  remote  to  have  any  confolatory  ef- 
fect:, and  I  contented  myfelf  with  tlie  thought,  that  I 
might  be  rem.embered  when  it  would  be  too  late. 
There  is  perhaps  no  condition  from  which  a  man 
confcious  of  his  own  unrightnefs  cannot  derive  con-^ 
isolation  ;  for  it  is  in  itfelf  a  confolation  for  him  to 
find  that  he  can  bear  that  condition  with  calmnefs 
and  fortitude. 


(         ^"7         ) 

\   From  about  the  middle  of  March  (1794) -to, the 
fall  of  Robefpierrc,  29th  July,  (9th  of  Thermidor  J 
the  ftate  of  things  in  the  prifon  was  a  continued  fcene 
of  horror.     No  man  could  count  upon  life  for  twen- 
ty hourso     To  fuch  a  pitch  pf  rage  and  fufpicion  was 
Robefpierrc  and  his  committee  arrived,  that.it  fcem- 
.cd.as  if  they  feared^to  leave  a  rnan  to  live,  -  Scarcer 
ly  a  night  pafled  but  in  which, ten,  twenty,    thirty, 
forty,  fifty  or  more  were  taken  out  of -the.  prifon, 
carried  before  a  pretended  tribunal  in  the  morning, 
and  guillotined  before  night.    One  hundred  and  fix- 
ty  nine  were  taken  out  of  the  Luxembourg  in.  one 
^ight  in  the   month  of  July    and  one  hundred  and 
fixty  of  them  guillotined.     A  lift  of  two  hundred 
more,   according  to   the  report  in  the  prifon,  v/as 
preparing  a  few  days  before  Robefpierrc   fell.   ,  In 
this  laii  lift .  I  have  good  reafon  to  believe  I  was 
included.     A  memorandum^  in  the  hand  writing  of 
Itobefpierre,  was  afterwa-rdq  jproduced  in  the  Con- 
vention, .  by  the  committee  to  whom  £he  papers  of 
Robefpierrc  were  referred,'  in  thefe  wfords  : 


.  '*  Demander  que  Tho- 
*'  mas  Paine  foit  decrete 


: •'  d-accufation,  pour  Tin- 
**  teret  de  1' Ameriqiie  au- 
"  tant  que  de  la  France." 

I  had  then  been  imprifoned  feven  months,  andthc 

C 


Demand  that  Thomas 
Paine  be  decteed  of  accu- 
fation,  for  the  intereft  o£ 
America  as  well  as  of 
France. 


(         i8        > 

iiience  of  the  executive  government  of  America,  Mr. 
Wafhington,  upon  the  cafe  and  upon  every  thing 
refpe6ting  me,  was  'explanation  enough  to  Robef- 
pierre  that  he  might  proceed  to  extremities. 

A  violent  fever  which  had  nearly  terminated  my 
exiftence,  was,  I  believe,  the  circumflance  that 
prefervea  it,  I  was  not  in  a  condition  to  be  remov- 
ed,^ or  to  know  of  what  was  p'afling,  or  of  what  had 
palfed  for  more  than  a  month.  It  makes  a  blank  in 
Wiy  remembrance  of  life.  The  firft  thing  I  was  In- 
formed of  was  the  fall  of  Robefpierre. 

About  a  week  after  this  Mr.  Monroe  arrived  to 
fupercede  Gouverricur  Morris,  and  as  foon  as  I  was 
able  to  write  a  note  legible  enough  to  be  read,  1 
fbuiid  a  way  to  convey  one  to  him,  by  means  of  the 
rnan  wh^  lighted  t^e  tamps  in  the  prifon ;  and 
whofe "unabated  friendfliip  to  me,  from  whom  he 
had  never  received  any  fervice,  and  with  difficulty 
accepted  any  recompence,  puts  the  chafafter  of 
Mr.  "Wafhington  to  fhame. 

In  a  few  days  I  received  a  meffagc  from  Mr, 
Monroe,  conveyed  to  meTn  a  note  from  an  Inter- 
mediate perfon,  with  affurance  of  his  friendfhip^ 
and  expreffing  a  defirc  that  I  would  reffc  the  cafe  ih 
liis  hands.  After  a .  fortnight  or  more  had  pafTed 
and  hearing  nothing  -  further,  I  wrote  to  a  friend 
who  was.  then  in  Paris,  a  citizen  of  Phikdelphia, 
r^gnefting  him   to   inform  me  what  was  the  true 


(        '9        ) 

,  fituation  of  things  with  refpeO:  to  me.  I  was  fure 
that  fomething  was  the  matter.  I  began  to  have 
hard  thoughts  of  Mr.  Wafhington  ;  but  I  was  un- 
willing to  encourage  them, 

In  about  ten  days  I  received  an  anfwer  to  my  let- 
ter in  which  the  writer  fays  :  <*  Mr.  Monroe  has 
<«  told  me  that  he  has  no  orders  (rneaning  from  the 
<^  Prefident,  Mr.  Wafhington)  refpecling  you,  but 
^'  that  he  (Mr.  Monroe)  will  do  every  thing  in  his 
<f  power  to  liberate  you ;  but  from  what  I  learn 
"^*  from  the  Americans  lately  arrived  iji  Paris,  you 
«^  are  not  confidered,  either  by  the  American  govern- 
<*  ment  or  by  the  individuals,  as  an  American  citizen." 

I  was  now  at  no  lofs  to  underft^nd  Mr.  Wafli- 
ington  and  his  new  fangled  fadiion,  and  that  their 
policy  was  filently  to  leave  me  to  /all  in  France. 
They  were  rufliing  as  fall  as  they  could  venture* 
without  awakening  the  jealoufy  of  America,  into  all 
the  vices  and  corruptions  of  the  Britifli  govern^ 
ment  j  and  it  was  no  more  confiflent  with  the  po- 
licy of  Mr,  "Wafhington,  and  thofe  who  immedi- 
ately furrounded  him,  than  it  was  with  that  of  Ro- 
bcfpierre  or  of  Pitt,  that  I  fhould  furvive.  They  have 
however,  mllTed  the  mark  and  the  rea6lion  is  upon 
tliemfelves. 

Upon  the   receipt  of  the   letter   juft  alluded  to, 

I  fent  a  memorial  to  Mr.  Monroe  which  t?ie  reader 

will  find  in  the  appendix,  and  I  received  from  hii^ 

C   2 


(.       ao        )  - 

the  following  anfwer.^.,    It  is  dated  the.  iStli  of  Sep- 
I  tember,  but  did  not  come  to  hand  till  about  the  i  oth 

^  of  October.     I  was  then  falling  into  a  rejapfe,  the 

weather  was  becoming  damp  and  cold,  fuel  was  not; 
to  be  had,  and  thfe  abfcefs  in  my  fide,  the  confequence 
of  thefe  things,  and  of  the  want  of  air  and  exercife? 
was  beginning  to  form  and  which  has  continued  im* 
moveable  ever  nnce.  Here  follows  Mi>  Monroe's 
letter.  .  - 

FariSi  Sept.  I B,  1 794. 

Dear  Sir, 
I  was  favoured  foon  afiier  m])-  arrival  here  v/ith 
feverai  letters  from  you  and  more  latterly  with  one  in 
the  character  of  memorial,  upon  the  fubjeO:  of  your 
'confinement;  and  fliould  havje  anfwered  tlieni  at  the 
tim.es  they  were  refpeftively  written  had  I  not  con- 
cluded you  would  have  calculated  with  certainty 
"upon  the  deep  intereft  I  take  in  your  welfare  and  the 
'  pleafure  with  which'  I  ihall  embrace  eveyy  opportu- 

nity in  my  power  to  ferve  you.  I  fhouid  ftill  purfue 
the,  fame  courfe,  and  for  reafons  which  muft  obvi- 
oully  occur,  if  I  did  not  find  that  you  are  difquieted 
with  apprehenfions  upon  interefting  points,  &  which 
juftice  to  yoii  and  our  country  equally  forbid  you 
Ihould  entertain.  You  mention  tljat  ypu.have  been 
informed  you  are  not  confidered  0.3  an  American  citi- 
zen by  the  Americans,  and  that  you  have .  iikewife 


(  21  > 

heard  that  I  had  no  inftru6lions  refpecling  you  by 
the  government.     I  doubt  not  the  perfon   who  gave, 
you  the  information  meant  well,  but  I  fufpedt  he  did 
not  even  convey  accurately  his  own  ideas  on  the  firfi: 
point ;  for  I  prefume  the  moft  he  could  fay  is  that 
you  had  likewife  become  a  French  citizen  and  which 
by  no  means  deprived  you  of  being  an  American  one. 
Even  this  however  may  be  doubled,  I  mean  the  ac- 
quifition  of  citizenfhip  in  France,  and  I  confefs  you 
have  faid  much  to  fhew  that  it  has  not  been  made, 
I  really  fufpe££  that  this  was  all  that  the  gentleman 
who  wrote   you,  and   thofe   Americans    he  heard 
fpeak  upon  the  fubje£t,  meant.-    It  becomes  my  duty 
however  to  declare  to  you,  that  I  confider  you  as  an 
American  citizen,  and  that  you  arc  confidered  uni- 
verfally  in  that  character  by  the  people  of  America, 
As  fuch  you  are  entitled  to  my  attention  5  and  fo 
far  as  it  can  be  given  confiflently  with  thofe  obliga- 
tions which  are  mutual  between  every  government 
and  even  a  tranfient  paflenger  you  fhall  receive  it. 

The  Congrefs  have  never  decided  upon  the  fubje£t 
of  citizenihip  in  a  manner  to  regard  the  prefent 
cafe.  By  being  with  us  through  the  revolution  you 
are  of  our  country  as  abfolutely  as  if  you  had  been 
born  there,  and  you  are  no  more  of  England  than 
every  native  American  is.  This  is  the  true  do£l:rine 
in  the  prefent  cafe,  fo  far  as  it  becomes  complicated 
with  any  other  confideration.     I  have  mentioned  it 


(  2S  } 

to  make  you  eafy  upon  the  only  point  which  Coui4 
give  you  any  difqufetude. 

Is  it  neceilary  for  me  to  tell  you  how  much  all  your 
countrymen,  I  fpeak  of  the  great  mafs  of  the  people, 
are  interefted  in  your  welfare  ?  They  have  not  for- 
gotten the  hiftory  of  their  own  revolution"  and  the 
difficult  fcenes  through  which  they  pafled  ;  nor  do 
they  review  its  feveral  {lages  v/ithouf*  reviving  in 
their  bofoms  a  due  fenlibility  of  the  merits  of  thofe 
who  ferved  them  in  that  great  and  arduous  conflict. 
The  crime  of  iirFratitifdehas'  not  yet  flalned,  and  I 
truft  never  will  fcain,  our  national  chara£ier.  Yoti 
are  confidered  by  iliBra-  as  not  only  having  rendere<f 
important  fer/iees-  in  our  own.  revelation,  but  us  be- 
ing, on  a  m.ore  extenfrve  fcale,  th^fricnd  of  hu- 
man rights,  and  a  diftlnguKhed,  an  srble,  advocate  in 
favour  of  public  liberty.  To  the  welfare  of  Thomas 
Paine  th-e  Americans 'are  not,'  nor  can  tliey  be,  indif- 
ferent. 

Of  the  fenfe  whicli'  the-  Prefident  has'  always  en- 
teitained  of  your  merits,  and  of  his  friendly  oifpo- 
fition- towards  you,  -  )^u  are  too  v/ell  aifured  to  re- 
quire any  d,eciaratio'n  of  it- from  «ia  ■  That  I  forward 
his  wiflies  in  feeking  your  fafety  is  what  I  well  kiiow^ 
and  this  will  form  an  additional  obli8:ation  on  me  te 
perform  what  I  ihould  otheirwife  confider  as  a  duty. 

You- are,  in  my  opkiion.  at  prefent,  menaced  by 
no  kind  of  danger.  '   To  liberate  voti  will  h^  the  ob- 


(  23  ) 

ject  of  my  endeavours,  and  as  Coon  as  pofFible^  But 
you  muft^  \intil  that  event  lliall  be  accpniplifhed, 
bear  your  fituation  with  patience  and  fortitude.  \''ou 
will  likewife  have  the  juftice  to  recollecly  that  1  am 
placed  here  upon  a  difficult  theatre,*  many  impor- 
tant objedls  to  attend  to,  with  fev/  to  confult.  It  be- 
comes me.  in  purfuit  of  thofe  to  regulate  my  conduft 
in  reipe£t  to  each,  as  to  the  maimer  and  the  time,  as 
will,  in  myjudgn3ent,be  befl  calculated  to  acco^riplifli 
the  whole.  With  great  efteem  and  refpect  confider 
me  perfbnally  your  friend. 

TAMES  MONROE.  - 


The  part  in  Mr.  Mpnroe's  letter  in  which  he  fpeaks 
of  the  Prefident  (Mr.  Wafliington)  is  put  in  foffc  lan- 
guage. Mr.  IMonroe  knew  what  Mr.  Wafhington 
had  faid  formerly,  and  he  was  willing  to  keep  that  in 
view.  But  the  fa6l  is,  not  only  that  Mr.  Wafhingv 
ton  had  given  no  orders  to  Mr.  Monroe,  as.  the  letter 
ftated  ;  but  he  did  not  fo  much  as  fay  to  him, ..en- 
quire if  Mr.  Paine  be  dead  or  alivq,  in  prifon ,  or  out* 
or  fee  if  there  is  any  afiiftance  we  can  given  .him.  .: 

While  thefe  matterswere  palling  the.  Iib3-;-at-ipH^ 
from  the  prifons  were  numerous;  from  twenty  Jjo 
forty  in  the  courfe  of  almoft  every  twenty  fourJiours- 

*  This  I  prefunve  ailudes  to  the  en^barra'VmcritP  v/hicli  tTvr; 
Ilrangc  conduct  ofjGouv.  M,oirii  hid,  occafioticd,  and  which<i' 
■well  know,  hiiX  created  fulpicions  upon  tl)"5  riaccrity  oi  Mr. 
^Va(liingtl3p.. 


f^ 


1         M         } 

The  contitiuance  of  my  imprifoniiieni:/  after  a  new 
iiiiniiler  had  arrived    immediately  frorn   America, 
"which  was  now  more  than  two  months^  was  a  mat- 
ter fo  obviouily  ftrange,  that  I  found  the  chara£ler  of 
the  American  government  fpoken  of  in  very  unqua- 
lified terms  of  reproach  ;  not  only  by  thofe  v/ho  ftili 
remained  in  prifonjiDut  by  thofe  who' were  libiiratedy 
•and  by  perfons  who  had  accefs  to  the  prifon  from 
without.     Under  thefe  circumflances  I  wrote  again 
to  Mr.  MotiroCj    and    found  occafiOn,    amiong   o- 
ther  things  to  fay  :  "  It  will  not  add  to  the  popula- 
«  rity  of  Mr.  ^Vafhington  to  have  it  beheved  in  Ame~ 
**  rica,  as  it  is  belieted  here,  that  hg  connives  at  my 
**  imprifonment." 

'  The  cafe^  fo  far  as  it  rcfpefted  Mr,  Monroe  was, 
tliat  having  to  get  over  the  drflicultres  which  the 
ftrange  conduft  of  Gouverneur  Morris  had  thrownin 
the  way  of  a  fucceffcr,  and  having  no  authority  from 
the  American  government  to  fpeak  officially  upon 
any  thing  relating  to  m.e,  he  found  himfelf  obliged 
to  proceed  by  unofficial  means  with  individual  mem- 
bers 5  for  though  Robefpierre  was  overthrown,  the 
Robefpierrian  members  of  the*  Committee  of  Public 
Safety  flill  remained  in  confiderable  force,  and  had 
they  found  out  that  Mr.  Monroe  had  no  official  au- 
thority upon  the  cafe,  they  would  have  paid  little  or 
no  regard  to  his  reclamation  of  me.  In  the  .  mean 
time  my  health  was  fuffering  exceedingly,  the  dreary 


(     2J     } 


W" 


profpe<£l  of  winter  was  coming'  on,  and  imprifon- 
tnent  was  ftill  a  thing  of  danger. 

After  the  Robefpierrian  members  of  the  Committee 
were  rernoved  by  the  expiration  of  their  time  of 
ferving,  Mr.  Monroe  re.claimed  me,  and  I  was  libe- 
rated the  4th  of  November.  Mr.  Monroe  arrived  in 
Paris  the  beginning  of  Auguft  before.  All  that  pe- 
riod of  my  imprifonment,  at  leall,  I  owe  not  to  Ro- 
befpierrc,  but  to  his  colleague  in  prcje£lsj  George 
Wafliington.  Immediately  upon  my  liberation  Mr. 
Monroe  invited  me  to  his  houfe,  where  I  remained 
more  than  a  year  and  an  half ;  and  I  fpeak  of  his  aid 
and  his  friendfhip,  as  an  open  hearted  man  will  al- 
ways do  in  fuch  a  cafe,  with  refpe6l  and  gratitude. 

Soon  after  my  liberation  the  Convention  pafTed 
an  unanimous  vote  to  invite  me  to  return  to  my  feat 
among  them.  The  times  were  ftill  unfettled  and 
dangerous,  as  well  from  without  as  from  v/ithin,  for 
the  coalition  was  unbroken,  and  the  conftitution 
not  fettled.  I  chofe,  however,  to  accept  the  invi- 
tation •,  for  as  I  undertake  nothing  but  what  I  be- 
lieve to  be  right,  I  abandon  nothing  that  I  under- 
take ;  and  I  was  willing  alfo  to  fhew,  that,  as  I  was 
not  of  a  caft  of  mind  to  be  deterred  by  profpe(3:s  or 
retro-profpe6ls  of  danger,  fo  neither  were  my  prin- 
ciples to  be   weakened  by  misfortune,  or  perverted 

by  difguft. 

D 


(  26  ) 

Being  now  once  more  abroad  in  the  world  I  be- 
gan to  find  that  I  was  not  the  only  one  who  had 
conceived  an  unfavourable  opinion  of  Mr.  Walh- 
ington.  It  was  evident  that  his  chara6ler  was  on 
the  decline  as  well  among  Americans  as  among  fo- 
reigners of  different  nations.  From  being  the  chief 
of  a  government,  he  had  made  himfelf  the  chief  of 
a  party ;  and  his  integrity  was  queftioned,  for  his 
politics  had  a  doubtful  appearance.  The  mifF-on  of 
Mr.  Jay  to  London,  notwithflanding  there  was  an 
American  minifher  there  already,  had  then  taken 
place,  and  was  beginning  to  be  talked  of.  It  ap- 
peared to  others,  as  it  did  to  me,  to  be  enveloped 
in  myftery,  which  every  day  ferved  either  to  en- 
ereafe  or  to  explain  into  matter  of  fufpicion. 

In  the  year  1790,  or  about  that  time,  Mr.  Wafh- 
ington  as  Prefident  had  fent  Gouverneur  Morris  to 
London  as  his  fecret  agent  to  have  fome  communi- 
cation with  the  Britifh  miniftry.  To  cover  the  a- 
gency  of  Morris  it  v^as  given  cut,  I  knov/  not  by 
whom,  that  he  went  as  an  agent  from  Robert  Mor- 
riito  borrow  money  in  Europe,  and  the  report  was 
permitted  to  pafs  uncontradicted.  The  event  of  Mor- 
ris's negociaticn  was,  that  Mr.  Ham.mond  was  fent 
minifter  from  England  to  America,  and  Pinckney 
from  America  to  EiisgJand,  and  himfelf  minifter  to 
France.  If  whik  Morris  was  minifter  in  France  he 
was  not  an  emiflary  of  the  Britilh  miniftry  an^  tlie 


^>^ 


(  27  ) 

coalefced  powers,  he  gave  ftrong  reasons  to  fufpe£l 
liim  of  it.  No  one  who  faw  his  conduct,  and  heard 
his  converfation,  could  doubt  his  being  in  their  in- 
tereft ;  and  had  he  not  got  off  at  the  time  he  did, 
after  his  recall,  he  would  have  been  in  arreftation. 
Some  letters  of  his  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the 
Committee  of  Public  Safety,  and  enquiry  was  mak- 
ing after  him.  ^ 
A  great  buftle  has  been  made  by  Mr.  Wafhing- 
ton  about  the  conduct  of  Genet  in  America  ;  while 
that  of  his  own  minifter,  Morris,  in  France  was  in- 
finitely more  reproachable.  If  Genet  was  impru- 
dent or  ralh,  he  was  not  treacherous  *,  '  but  Morris 
was  all  thrae.  He  was  the  enemy  of  the  French  re- 
volution in  every  ftage  of  it.  But,  notv/ithftanding 
^his  conduct  on  the  part  of  Morris,  and  the  known 
profligacy  of  his  charafter,  Mr.  Wafhington5in  a  let- 
ter he  wrote  to  him  at  the  time  of  recalling  him  on  the 
complaint  and  requefl  of  the  Committee  of  Public 
Safety,  allures  him,  that  though  he  had  complied 
with  that  requeft,  he  ftill  retained  the  fame  efteem 
and  friendfhip  for  him  as  before.  This  letter  Mor- 
ris was  foolifli  enough  to  tell-  of  ;  and,  as  his  own 
character  and  condudl  were  notorious,  the  telling  ei 
it  could  have  but  one  efl'e£l:,  which  was  that  of  im- 
plicating the  charadler  of  the  writer.  Morris  ftiil 
loiters  in  Europe,  chiefly  in  England ;  and  Mr. 
Wafhington  is    ftill  in  correfpondence   with   him  : 

D    2 


(  28  ) 

Mr.  Wafhington  ought  therefore  to  expect^  cfpscit 
ally  fince  his  conduct  in  the  affair  of  Jay's  treaty, 
that  France  iriuit  confider  Morris  and  Wafhington 
as  men  of  the  fame  defcription.  The  chief  differ- 
ence, however,  between  the  two  is  (for  in  politics 
there  is  none)  that  the  one  is  profligate  enough  to 
profefs  an  indifference  about  moral  principles,  and 
the  other  is  prudent  enough  to  conceal  the  want  of 
them. 

About  three  months  after  I    was  at  liberty,  the 
ofHcial  note  of  Jay  to  Grenville  on  the  fubje6l  of 
the  capture  of  Am.erican  vefTels  by  Britifli  cruifers 
appeared  in  the   American  papers   that  arrived  at 
Paris.     Every  thing   was  of  a-piece'.     Every    thing 
was  mean.     The  fame  kind  of   charafter  went   to 
all  circumflances  public    or    private.     Difgufted  at 
this  nationr.l  degradation,  as  well  as  at  the  particu- 
lar conduct  of  Mr.  Wafhington  to    me,  I   wrote  to 
him  (Mr.  Wafliington)  on    the    2 2d  of  February 
(1795)  under  cover  to  the    then  Secretary  of  State 
(Mr.   Randolph)  and  entrufted    the    letter  to    Mr. 
Letom.be,  who  was  appointed  French  conful  to  Phi-, 
ladeiphia,  and  was  on  the    point    of  taking  his  de- 
parture.    When  I  fuppofed  Mr.  Letombe  had  failed, 
I  mentioned  the  letter  to  Mr.  Monroe,  and  as  I  was 
then  in  his  houfe,  I  fhewed  it  to  him.    He  exprefled 
a  wifh  that  I   would  recall  it,  which    he  fuppcfed 
might  be  done,  as  he  had  learned  that  Mr.  Letoml/e 


had  not  then  failed.  I  agreed  to  do  fo,  and  it  was 
returned  by  Mr.  Letombe  under  cover  to  Mr.  Monr 
roe. 

The  letter,  however,   will  now  reach  Mr.  Wafh- 
ington  publicly,  in  the  courfe  of  this  work. 

About  the  month  of  September  following,  I  had 
a  fevere  relapfe,  which  gave  occafion't'6  the  report 
of  my  death.  '  I  had  felt  it  coming  on  a  confiderable 
time  before,  which  occafioned  me  to  haften  the 
work  I  had  then  in  hand,  the  Second  part  of  the 
Age  of  Re af on.  When  I  had  finiflied  that  work,  I 
beftowed  another  letter  on  Mr.  Wafhing-ton,  which 
I  fent  under  cover  to  Mr.  Benj.  Franklin  Bache  of 
Philadelphia.     The  letter  is  as  follows. 

To   Geobge    Washington,    President  of  the 
United  States. 

Parisy  Sept,   20thj    1795* 

Sir, 
I  had  written  you  a  letter  by  Mr.  Letombe, 
French  conful,  but  at  the  requeft  of  Mr.  Monroe  I 
withdrew  it,  and  the  letter  is  ftill  by  me.  I  was  the 
more  eafdy  prevailed  upon  to  do  this,  as  it  was  then 
my  intention  to  have  returned  to  America  the  latter 
end  of  the  prefent  year,  1 795  j  but  the  ilkiefe  I  now 
fufFer  prevents  me.     In  cafe  I  had  come,  I  fhould 


(         30        ) 

kavc  spplied  to  you  for  fuch  parts  of  your  official 
letters  (and  of  your  private  ones,  if  you  had  chofen 
to  give  them)  as  contained  any  inftruflions  or  di- 
re6lions.  either  to  Mr.  Monroe,  or  to  Mr.  Morris, 
©r  to  any  other  perfon  refpefting  me ;  for,  after  you 
were  informed  of  my  imprifonmeni:  in  France,  it 
was  incumbent  on  you  to  have  made  fome  enquiry 
into  the  caufe,  as  you  might  very  well  conclude, 
that  I  had  not  the  opportunity  of  informing  you  of 
it.  I  cannot  underftand  your  filence  upon  this  fub- 
je£l  upon  any  other  ground,  than  as  connivance  at 
my  imprifonment  ^  and  this  is  the  manner  it  is  un- 
derftood  here,  and  will  be  under ftood  in  America, 
onlefs  you  can  give  me  authority  for  contradi£ling 
it.  I  therefore  write  you  this  letter,  to  propofe 
to  you  to  fend  me  copies  of  any  letters  you  have 
written,  that  may  remove  that  fufpicion.  In  the  pre- 
face to  the  fecond  part  of  the  Age  of  Reafon,  I  have 
given  a  memorandum  from  the  hand  writing  of  Ro- 
befpierre,  in  which  he  propofed  a  decree  of  iaccufa- 
tion  againfl  me,  ^^  for  the  inter eji  of  America  as  luell 
as  of  France J^  He  could  have  no  caufe  for  putting 
America  into  the  cafe,  but  by  interpreting  the  fi- 
lence of  the  American  government  into  connivance 
and  eonfent.  I  was  imprifoned  on  the  groimd  of 
being  born  in  England^,  and  your  filence  in  not  en- 
quiring into  the  caufe  of  that  imprifonment  and  re- 
claiming me  agalnil  it,  was ,  tacitly  giving  me  up. 


(         3J         ) 

I  ought  not  to  have  fufpe£led  you  of  treachery ;  but 
whether  I  recover  from  the  illnefs  I  now  fufFer  or 
jiot,  I  fhall  continue  to  think  you  treachcrou;-,  till 
you  give  me  caufe  to  think  otherwife.  I  am  fure 
you  would  have  found  yourfelf  more  at  your  eafc 
had  you  aSicd  by  me  as  you  ought ;  for,  whether 
your  defertion  of  me  was  intended  to  gratify  th^ 
Englifh  government  J  or  to  let  me  fall  into  d©ftruc- 
tion  in  France,  that  you  might  exclaim  the  louder 
againft  the  French  revolution,  or  whether  you  hoped 
by  my  extin£lion  to  meet  with  lefs  oppofition  in 
mounting  up  the  American  government, — either  o£ 
thefe  will  involve  you  in  reproach  you  will  not  eafily 
(hake  off. 

THOMAS  PAINE. 

Here  follows  the  letter   above  alluded   to,  whick 
I  had  flopped  in  complaifance  to  Mr.  Monroe, 


To    George  Washington,    President  of  the 
United  States. 

Paris ^  Feb,  22^,  1795- 

Sir, 

As  it  is  always  painful  to  reproach  thofe  one 
would  wifh  to  refpe61:,it  is  not  without  fome  difficulty 
that  I  have  taken  the  refolutioa  to  write  to  you. 


(         3^         ) 

The  dangers  to  v/hich  I  have  bee-n  expoied  cannot 
have  been  unknovt^n  to  you,  and  the  guarded  filence^ 
you  have  obfervcd  upon  that  circumfLance  is  \i4iat  I 
ought  net  to  have  expected  from  you,  either  as  a 
friend  or  as  Prefident  cf  the  United  States. 

You  know  enough  of  my  chara£ter  to  be  alfured^ 
that  I  could  not  have  deferved  iniprifonment  in 
France,  and  without  knowing  any  thing  more  than 
this,  you  had  fufficient  ground  to  have  taken  fomd 
intereft  for  my  fafety.  Every  motive  arifing  front 
recollection  of  times  pad,  ought  to  have  fuggefted  t0 
you  the  propriety  of  fuch  a  meafure.  But  I  cannot 
find  that  you  have  fo  much  as  direfted  any  enquiry 
to  be  made,  whether  I  was  in  prifonor  at  liberty,  dead 
or  alive  ;  what  the  caufe  of  that  imprifonment  waSj, 
or  whether  there  was  any  fervice  or  afliftance  you 
could  render.  Is  this  what  I  ought  to  have  expefted 
from  America  after  the  part  I  have  acled  towards 
her,  or  will  it  redound  to  her  honour  or  to  yours,  that 
I  tell  the  flory.  I  do  not  helitate  to  fay,  that  yctJ 
have  not  ferved  America  with  more  difintereftednefs 
or  greater  zeal,  or  more  fidelity,  than  myfelf,  and 
I  knov/  not  if  with  better  effect.  After  the  revolution 
of  America  was  eflabliflied  I  ventured  into  new 
fcenes  of  difficulties  to  extend  the  principles  which 
that  revolution  had  produced,  and  you  refted  at  home 
to  partake  of  the  advantages.  In  the  progrefs  of 
events  you  beheld   yourfelf  a  Prefident  in  America 


(        33         ) 

and  me  a  prifoner   in  France.     You  folded   your 
arms,  forgot  your  friend,  and  became  filent. 

As  every  thing  I  have  been  doing  in  Europe  was 
connected  with  my  wilhes  for  the  profperity  of  Ame- 
rica, I  ought  to  be  the  liiore  furprifedatthis  conduct  on 
the  part  of  her  government.  It  leaves  me  but  one  mode 
of  explanation,  which  is,  that  every  ihing  is  not  as  it  ought 
to  be  amongH  youy  and  that  the  prefence  of  a  man  who 
might  difapprove,  and  who  had  credit  enough  with 
the  Country  to  be  heard  and  believed,  was  not  wifhed 
for.  This  was  the  operating  motive  with  the  defpotic 
faftion  that  imprifoned  me  in  France  (tho'  the 
pretence  was,  that  I  was  a  foreigner)  and  thofe  that* 
have  been  filent  and  inactive  towards  me  in  America, 
appear  to  me  to  have  a6ted  from  the  fame  motive, 
of  wifhing  me  out  of  the  Way.  It  is  impofTible  for 
me  to  difcover  any  other. 

Confidering  the  part  I  have  a6ted  in  the  revolution 
of  America  it  is  natural  that  I  feel   interefted  in 
whatever  relates  to  her   character  and   profperity. 
Though  I  am  not  on  the  fpot,  to  fee  what  is  immedi- 
ately acting  there,  I  fee  fome  part  of  what  fhe  is 
a6ling  in  Europe.    For  your  own  fake,  as  well  as  for 
that  of  America,  I  was  both  furprifed  and  concern- 
ed    at  the  appointment  of  Gouverneur  Morris  to  be 
minifter  to   France.     His  conduct  has  proved  that 
the  opinion  I  had  formed  of  that  appointment  was 

well  founded.   I  wrote  that  opinion  to  Mr.  JefFerfon 

E 


#^ 


(         34         ) 

at  the  time,  and  I  was  frank  enougli  to  fay  the  fan-e 
thing  to  Morris — that  it  ivas  an  unfortu?iate  appoint- 
ment. His  prating,  infignificant  pompofity,  rendered 
him  at  once  offenilve,  fufpe&ed,  and  ridiculous  j 
and  his  total  negledl  of  ail  bufmefs  had  fo  difgufted 
the  Americans,  that  they  propofed  entering,  a  proteft 
aeainft  him.  He  carried  this  nefjle6i:  to  fuch  an 
extreme,  that  it  was  neceflary  to  iiiiorm  him  of  it, 
and  I  af}:ed  him  one  day  if  he  did  not  feci  himfelf 
afliamed  to  take  the  •  money  of  the  country  and  do 
nothing  for  it.  But  Morris  is  (o  fond  of  profit  and 
voluptuoufnefs  that  he  cares  nothing  about  charadler. 
Had  he  not  bee;i  removed  at  the  time  he  was,  I  think 
his  conducl  would  have  precipitated  the  two  eoun- 
•  tries  into  a  rupture;  and  in  this  cafe,  \\2±tAfyJ}emati- 
caliy,  as  America  is  .and  ever  will  be  by  the  Britifh 
government,  and  fufpected  by  France,  the  com- 
merce of  America  v/ould  have  fallen  a  prey  to  both 
countries. 

If  the  inconGrcerit  conducl  of  Morris  expofed  the 
interell  of  America  to  fom.e  hazard  in  Trainee,  the 
punllanimous  conduct  of  Pvir,  Jay  in  England  has 
rendered  the  charafter  of  the  x'Ymerican  government 
contemptible  in  Europe.  Is  it  poiTible  that  any  man 
■  who  has  contributed  to  the  independence  of  Ame- 
rica, and  to  free  her  from  the  tyranny  and  injuftice 
of  the  Britifh  government,  can  read,  without  fhame 
and    indignation,    the   note    of- Jay    to    Grenville. 


<         35         ) 

It  is  a  fatire  upon  the  declaration  of  Indepea- 
dence,  and  an  encouragemsnt  to  the  Britifh 
government  to  treat  America  with  .contempt.  At 
the  time  this  minifcer  of  petitions  v/as  aQing  this 
miferable  part,  he  had  every  means  in  his  hands  to 
enable  him  to  have  done  his  bufmefs  as  he  ought. 
The  fuccefs  or  failure  of  his  miffion  depended  upon 
the  fuccefs  or  failure  of  the  French  arms.  Had 
France  failedj  Mr.  Jay  might  have  put  his  liumble 
petition  in  his  pocket  and  gone  home.  The  cafe 
happened  to  be  otherwife,  and  he  has  facrificed  the 
honour  and  perhaps  all  the  advantages  of  it,  by  turn- 
ing petitioner.  I  take  itipr  granted,  that  he  was 
fent  to  demand  indemnification  for  the  captured 
property;  and  in  this  cafe,  if  he  thought  he  wanted 
a  preamble  to  his  dema;id,  lie  might  have  faid : 
*f  That  tho'  the  government  of  England  might  fup- 
"  pofe  itfeif  under  the  neceuity  of  feizing  American 
"  property  bound  to  France,'  yet  that  fuppofed  ne- 
"  ceility  could  not  preclude  indemniucation  to  the 
f'  proprietors,  who,  acting  undej,"  the  authoVity  of 
"  their  own  government,  were  not  accountable  to 
^*  any  other." — But  Mr.  Jay  fets  out  Vv^ith  an,  implied 
recognition  of  the  right  of  the  Britifn  government 
to  feize  and  condemn;  for  he  enters  his  complaint 
a^ainft  the  irregularity  of  the  feizuresand  the  condem- 
nation, as  if  they  were  reprehenfible  only  by  not 
|j>^ing  conformable  to  the  terms  of  the  proclamation 


(        3«        ) 

under   which   they  were  feized.     Inflcad  of  being 
the  Envoy  of  a  government    he    goco  over  hke  a 
lawyer  to  demand  a  new  trial.      I  can  hardly  help 
believing,  that  Grenville  wrote  the  note  himfelf  and 
Jay  iigned  it,  for  the  fl:ile  of  it  is  domefiic  and  not 
diplomatic.     The  term,  His  Majefly,  ufed  v/ithout 
any  defcriptive  epithet,   always  fignifies    the    king 
whom  the  Minifter  that  fpeaks  repreients.     If  this 
finking  of  the  demand  into  a  petition    was  a  jug- 
gle between    Grenville  and  jay,    to    cover  the  in- 
demnification, I  think  it  will  end  in  another  juggle, 
that  of  never  paying  the  money^  and  be  made  ufe  of 
afterwards  to  preclude    the  right  of  demanding  itj 
for  Mr.  Jay  has  virtually  difowned  the  right,   by  ap- 
pealing   to  the  magnanimity  of  his    Majejly  agaift/i  the 
capturers.      He     has    appointed  this    magnanimous 
Majefly  to  be  umpire  in.  the  cafe,  and  the  govern- 
ment cf  the  United  States  mull  abide  by  the  deci- 
fion.      If,  Sir,  I  turn  fome  part  of  this   aiFair  into 
ridicule,  it  is  to  avoid  the    unpleafant    fenfation  of 
ferlous  indignation^       ^ 

Among  other  things,  v/hich  I  confefs  \  do  not  un- 
derftand,  is  the  proclamation  of  neutrality.  This 
has  alv/ays  appeared  to  me  as  an  ailumption  on  the 
^part-of  the  executive  not  warranted  by  the  conftitu- 
tion.  But  pafling  this  over,  as  a  difputable  cafe,  and 
confidering  it  only  as  political,  the  confequence  has 
been  that  of  fuftaining  the  lolTes  of  war  without  the 


(        37        ) 

balance  of  reprifals.  When  the  profeflion  of  neutrali- 
ty on  the  part  of  America  was  anfwered  by  hoftilities 
on  the  part  of  Britain,  the  obje£t  and  intention  of 
that  neutraHty  exifted  no  longer,  :^nd  to  maintain  it 
after  this  was  not  only  to  encourage  further  infults 
and    depredations,  but  was  an    informal  breach  of 
neutrality  towards  France,  by  paflively  contributing 
to  the  aid  of  her  enemy.      That  the  government  of 
England   confidered  the  American    government  as 
pufillanimous    is    evident  from  the  encreafing  info- 
lence  of  the  former  towards  the  latter,  till  the  affair  of 
General  Wayne.     She  then  faw  it  might  be  poffible 
to    kick  a  government   into    fome  degree  of  fpirit. 
So  far  as  the  proclamation  of  neutrality  was  intend- 
ed to  prevent  a  diilblute  fpirit  of  privateering  in  Ame- 
rica under  foreign  colours,  it  was  undoubtedly  lauda- 
ble ;  but  to  continue  it  as  a   government  neutrality, 
after  the  commerce  of  the  country  was"  made  war 
upon,  was  fubmiffion   and  not   neutrality.     I  have 
heard   fo    much   about   this    thing   called    neutra- 
lity, that  I  know  not  if  the  ungenerous  and  difho- 
norable  filence  (for  I  mud  call  it  fuch)  that  has  been 
pbferved  by  your  part  of  the   government  towards 
me,  during  my  imprifonment,  has  not  in  fome  meafure 
arifen  from  that  policy. 

Tho*  I  have  written  you  this  letter,  you  ought  not 
to  fuppofe  it  has  been  an  agreeable  undertaking  to 
me.      On  the  contrjiry,  I  aiTuxe  you,  it  has  coft  me 


(         38         ) 

fome  difquietude.  I  am  forry  you  have  given  tac 
caufe  to  do  it ;  for  as  I  have  always  remembered 
your  former  friendfhip  with  pleafure,  I  fufFer  a  lofs 
by  your  depriving  me  of  that  fentiment. 

THOMAS  PAINE. 
**. 
That  this  letter  was  not  written  in  very  good  tem- 
per is  very  evident-,  but  it  was  jufh  fuch  a  letter  as 
his.  condu6l  appeared  to  me  to  merit,  and  every- 
thing on  his  part  fince  has  ferved  to  confirm  that 
opinion.  Had  I  wanted  a  commentary  on  his  filence 
with  refpe£t  to  my  imprifonment  in  France,  fome  of 
his  faction  has  furnifhed  me  with  it.  What  I  here 
allude  to  is  a  publication  in  a  Philadelphia  paper, 
copied  afterwards  into  a  Nev/  York  paper,  hoth. 
under  the  patronage  of  the  Wa{]iingtoii  fa£lion,  in 
which  the  writer,  ftill  fuppoiing  me  in  prifon  in 
France,  wonders  at  my  lengthy  refpite  from  the 
fcafFold ;  and  he  marks  his  politics  ftiil  further 
by  faying  :  "  It  appears  moreover,  that  the  people 
"  of  England  did  not  relifli  his  (Thomas  Paine's) 
.  *'  opinions  quite  fo  well  as  he  expelled,  and  that 
<*  for  one  of  his  lafc  pieces,  as  deftrudive  to 
«'  the  peace  and  happinefs  of  their  country, 
*'  (meaning,  I  fuppofe,  the  Rights  of  Alan  J  they 
*«  threatened  our  knight-errant  with  fuch  ferious 
*'  vengeance,  that,  to  avoid  a  trip  to  Botany-bay, 
'^  he  fled  over  to  France,  as  a  lefs  dangerous  voyage,'* 

t 


(         39        ) 

1  am  not  refuting  or  contradicfling  the  falfhood  oi 
this  publication,  for  it  is  fufficiently  notorious; 
iieither  am  I  cenfuring  the  writer  5  on  the  contrary 
I  thank  him  for  the  explanation  he  has  incautiouflj 
given  of  the  principles  of  the  Wafliington  fa<£lion, 
Infigniiicant^  however,  as  the  piece  is,  it  was  capa- 
ble of  having  had  fome  ill  effedl:,  had  it  arrived  ia 
France  during  my  imprifonment  and  in  the  timt:  of 
Robefpicrre  ;  and  I  am  not  uncharitable  in  fuppofrng" 
that  this  was  the  intention  of  the  writer.* 

I  have  now  done  with  Mr.  Wafliington  on  the 
fcore  of  private  affairs.  It  would  have  been  far 
more  agreeable  to  me,  had  his  conduft  been  fuch  as 
not  to  have  merited  thefe  reproaches.  Errors  or 
caprices  of  the  temper  can  be  pardoned  and  forgot- 
ten ;  but  a  cold  deliberate  crime  of  the  heart,  fuch 
as  Mr.  Wafhington  is  capable  of  acting,  is  not  to 
be  wafhed  av/ay.     I  now  proceed  to  other  matter. 

After  Jay's  note  to  Grenville  arrived  in  Paris  from 
America,  the  chara61:er  of  every  thing  that  was  t© 
follow  might  be  eafily  forefeen ;  and  it  was  upon 
this  anticipation  that  my  letter  of  February  2  2d  was 
founded.  The  event  has  proved,  that  I  was  not 
miflaken,  except  that  it  has  been  m.uch  worfe  thaa 
I  expected. 

*  I  know  not  who  the  writer  of  the  piece  is  ;  but  fome  late 
Americans  fay  it  is  Phineas  Bond,  an  American  refugee,  and  no-*v 
a  Britilh  Conful ;  and  tliat  lie  writes  under  the  fignatiire  of  Pete- 
Skunk,  or  Peter  Porcupine,  or  fstne  fuch  fisnature-. 


(         4*         i 

It  would  naturally  Occur  to  Mr.  Wafliington,  that 
the  fecrecy  of  Jay's  milfion  to  England,  where  there 
was  already  an  American  mini  iter,  could  not  but 
create  fome  fufpicion  in  the  French  government ; 
cfpecially  as  the  condu£l  of  Morris  had  been  noto- 
rious, and  the  intimacy  of  Mr.  Wafhington  with 
Morris  was  known. 

The  character  which  Mr.  Wafhington  has  at- 
tempted to  a£t  in  the  world,  is  a  fort  of  non-defcriba- 
ble,  camelebn-eoloured  thmg,  called  prudence.  It  is,, 
in  many  cafes,  a  fubftitute  for  principle,  and  is  fo 
nearly  allied  to  hypocrify,  that  it  eafily  Aides 
into  it.  His  genius;  for  prudeitce  furniflied  him 
in  this  inftance  with  an  expedient,  that  ferved, 
as  is  the  natural  and  general  chara61:er  of  all  expe- 
dients, to  diminifli  the  embarraflments  of  the 
moment  and  multiply  them  afterwards  •,  for  he 
authorifed  it  to  be  made  known  to  the  French  go- 
vernment, as  a  confidential  matter  (Mr.  Wafhington 
fhouid  recollect  that  I  was  a  member  of  the  Conven- 
tion, &  had  the  means  of  knowing  what  I  here  ftate) 
he  authorized  it,  I  fay,  to  be  made  known,  arid  that 
for  the  purpofe  of  preventing  any  uneafmefs  to  France 
on  the  fcore  of  Mr.  Jay's  mifiion  to  England,  that  the 
obje£l  ot  that  miflion,  and  of  Mr.  Jay's  authority, 
was  reftrl6led  to  that  of  demanding  the  furrender  of 
the  weftcrn  pofts  and  indemnification  for  the  cargoes 
.  captured  in  American  veflels.   Mr.  Wafliington  knows 


(         4»  ) 

tliat  fhiS  was  untrue  j  and  knowing  this,  he  had  good 
rcafon  to  himfelf  for  refufing  to  furnifh  the  Houfe 
of  Reprefentatlves  with  copies  of  the  inftru6lions 
given  to  Jay ;  as  he  might  fufpe£l,  among  other 
things,  that  he  {hould  alfo  be  called  upon  for  copies 
of  inftru61:ions  given  to  other  minifters,  and  that  in 
the  contradiction  of  inftru£lIons  his  v/ant  of  integrity 
tvould  be  detected.  Mr,  Wafhington  may  now,  per- 
haps, learn,  when  it  is  too  late,  to  be  of  any  ufe  to 
him^  that  a  man  will  pafs  better  through  the  world 
with  a  thoufand  open  etrors  upon  his  back,  than  in 
being  deteCted  in  ONE  fly  falfhood.  When  one  is 
detected,  a  thoufand  are  fufpeCled. 
:  The  firft  account  that  arrived  in  Paris  of  a  treaty 
being  negociated  by  Mr.  Jay  (for  nobody. fufpeCted 
any)  came  in  an  Englifh  newfpaper,  which  announ- 
ced that  a  treaty  offenfive  and  dcfenfive  had  been  con- 
cluded between  the  United  States  of  America  and 
England.  This  was  immediately  denied,  by  every 
American  in  Paris,  as  an  impoffible  thing  \  and  though. 
it  was  difbelieved  by  the  French,  it  imprinted  ai  fuf- 
picion  that  fome  underhand  bufinefs  was  going  for- 
ward.* At  length  the  treaty  itfelf  arrived,  and  every 
well-aifeCted  American  blulhed  with  (hame. 


*  It  was  the  embarraffmentinto  which  the  affairs  and  credit  of 
America  v/cre  thrown  at  this  inftact  by  the  report  above  alluded 
to,  that  made  it  neceffary  to  contradicEl  it,  and  that  by  eyery 
rheans  arifing  from  opinion  or  founded  upon  authority.  The 
Committee  of  Public  Safety,  exifting  at  that  time,  had  agreed  to 


(         4^         )• 

It  is"  curious  to'  obferve  how  tlie  appearances  ^of 
character  will  change,  whilil  the  root  that  produces 
thent  remains  the  fame.     The  Waihington  adminif- 
tration  having  waded  through  the  flough  of  negoci- 
ation,  and  whilft  it  amufed  France  with  profeffions 
of  ffiendfhip   contrived  to  injure  her,  immediately* 
throvvs  ofFthe  hypocrite,  and  affumes  the  fwagger- 
mg  air  of  a  bravado.     The  party  papers  of   tlrat 
iinbecile  adminiftraticvn  were  on  this  occafioii  filled 
with  paragraphs  about  Sovereignty,     A  paltrcon  may 
bpaft.of  his  fovereign  rig-ht  to  let  another  kick  himy;, 
and  -this  is  the  only  kind  of  fovereignty  finewn  in  the 
treaty  with  England.     But  thefe  dafliing  paragrapha^ 
asi  Timothy  Pickering  well  knows,  were  intended  for 
Fra^ice  ;-  without  whofe  aflifbance  in  men,  money  and 

£<,l*-^   i  '■ -   ,   :-^.r. — __ _: '. ...; -.." 

the  fill!  execution,  on  their  part,  of  the  treaty  between  America 
and  France,  not  wit  hitauding  Ibine  equivocal  condudon  the  part 
of  the  American  government,  not  very  confident  '.ri  h  the  good 
i'aith  of  an  ally  ;  but  they  were  not  in'adifpofitiou  to  be  impofed 
upon  t>y  a  counter-treaty.  That  |ay  had  no  inftnrcVions  bsyond 
the.  points  abov3  ftatcd,  or  none  thai  could  polfibiy  be  conflrucd 
td'sxicr.d  to  the  length  the  Britiilv  treaty  goes,  was  a  matter  be- 
lieved in  America,  in  England  and  in  France  4  and  without  go- 
hig  to  an)^  c.'ther  fourceit  followed  naturally  froni  the  melVage  of 
fhe"i*refide!lt  to  Congrefs>  when  he  hominared  Jay  uposi  that 
tnhTioa.  The  fccretary  of  Mr.  Jay  came  to  Paris  r:)On  af.er  the 
treaty  with  Englarrd  had  been  concluded,  and  brought  with  hiiri 
a'  copy  of  .Mr.  Jay's  iuftruelions,w:hlch  he  ofiered  to  fnev/  to  m'e 
as  d^ju ft! fixation  ofy.iy.  I  advifed  him,  as  a  friend,  not  to  flicw 
t?h(p-m  rcy  anv  bovly,  and  did  not  permit  him  to  ihew  tliem  10  rne. 
Whotsi  ,  faid  I  to  him,  that  )cu  intend  to  implicate  as  cenfurcable 
b'y  ifhe'.^ing  thtifeinftr unions  ?  Perhaps  that  implication  rriav  fall' 
upon  yourown  government.  Though  I  did  not  fee  the  infl'mctions 
Fcoiild  not  beatn  lofs  ro  undcrilavid,  thac  %\\-^  American  adminif-' 
Iration  h^d.!been  ^b.rmg  a  doii;ble  game. 


(         43         ■) 

thips,  Mr.  V/aftiington  would  have  cut  but  a  poor- 
£gure  in  the  American  war.  But  of  his  military  ta- 
lents I  fhall  fpeak  hereafter. 

I  mean  not  to  entej  into  any  difcuirion  of  any  ar- 
ticle of  Jay's  ti-eaty  :  I  ihall  fpeak  only  upon  the  whole 
of  it.  It  is  attempted  to  be  juilifkd  on  the  ground 
©f  its  not  being  a  violation  of  any  article  or  articles 
,of  the  treaty  pre-exifting  with  France.  But  the  fo- 
yereign  right  of  explanation  does  not  He  with  George 
Wafhington  and  his  man  Timothy  ;  France,  pn  her 
|?art,  has,  at  leaft,  an  equal  right  •,  and  when  nations 
difpute,  it  is  not  fo  much  about  words  as  about  things, 

A  man,  fuch  as  the  world  calls,  a   {harper,  and 

yerfed,  as  Jay  mufl  be  fuppofed  to  be:,  in  the  quibbles 

of  the   law,  may  find  a  way  to  enter  into  en<yafTe« 

nients,  and   make  bargains  in  fuch  a  rminner  as  to 

cheat   fqme  other  party,  without  that  party  being 

able,  as  the  phrafe  is,  to  take  the  laiu  cf  him.     This 

often  happensinthe  cabaliftical circle  of  what  is  called 

law.     But  when  this  is  attempted    to  be  acted  on 

the  national  fca!e  of  .treaties,  it  is  too  dcfpicable  to 

be  defended,  or  to  be  permitted  to  exill.     Yet  this 

is  the  trick  upon  which  Jay's  treaty  is  founded,  fo 

'far  as  it  has  relation  to  the  treaty  pre-exifting  with 

France.     It  is  a  counter-treaty  to  th^t  treaty,    and 

perverts  all  the  great  articles   of  that  treaty  to    t^Cit 

injury  of  France,  and    makes  them   operate   as  a 

bounty  to  England  with  whom  France  is  at  war^ 


(         44  ) 

The  Wafhington  adminiftration  fliews  great  de-a 
fircj  that  the  treaty  between  France  and  the  United 
States  be  preferved.  Nobody  can  doubt  their  fince- 
Yity  upon  this  matter.  There  is  not  a  Britifli  minif- 
ter,  a  Britifn  merchant,  or  a  Britifti  agent  or  failor  in 
America,  that  does  not  anxiouily  wifh  the  fame  thing. 
The  treaty  with  France  ferves  now  as  a  pallport  tt> 
fupply  England  with  naval  ftores  and  other  articles 
of  American  produce,  whilft  the  fame  articles,  when 
coming  to  France,  are  made  contraband  or  feizabl'e 
by  Jay's  treaty  with  England.  The  treaty  with 
France  fays,  that  neutral  fliips  make  neutral  pro- 
perty, and  thereby  gives  proteftion  to  E'nglifli  pro- 
perty on  board  American  fliips ;  and  Jay's  treaty 
delivers  up  French  pro-perty  on  board  American 
fnips  to  be  feized  by  the  Engiifh.  It  is  too  paltry  to 
talk  of  faith,  of  national  honour,  and  of  the  preferva- 
tion  of  treaties,  v/hilil  fuch  a  bare-faced  treachery 
as  this  {lares  the  world  in  the  face. 

The  Wafnington  adminiftration  may  fave  itfelf 
the  trouble  of  proving  to  the  French  govermnent  its 
moji  faithful  intentions  of  preferving  the  trer.ty  with 
France  j  for  France  has  now  no  defire  that  it  fhould 
be  preferved.  '  She  had  nominated  an  Envoy  extra- 
ordinary to  America,  to  make  Mr.  Wafliington  and 
his  government  a  prefent  of  the  treaty,  and  X.o  have 
no  more  to  do  with  that  or  with  him.  It  was,  at  the 
feme  time^  officially  declared  to.  the  American  rjai- 


(         4S         ) 

jriiiier  at  Paris,  that  the  French  Repiblic  had  rather 
have  the  American  government  for  an  open  etiejny  than 
a  treacherous  friend.  This,  fir,  together  with. the 
internal  diflra£lions  caufed  in  America,  and  the 
lofs  of  character  in  the  world,  is  the  eventful  crifiSy 
alluded  to  in  the  beginning  of  this  letter,  to  which 
your  double  politics  have  brought  the  affairs  of  your 
country.  It  is  time  that  the  eyes  of  America  be 
opened  upon  you. 

How  France  would  have  conducted  herfelf  to- 
wards America  and  American  commerce  after  all 
treaty  ftipulations  had  ceafed,  and  under  the  fenfe 
of  fervices  rendered  an4  injuries  received,  I  know 
not.  It  is,  however,  ^n  unpleafant  refleftion,  that 
ia  all  national  quarrels,  the  innocent,  and  even  the 
friendly,  part  of  the  community,  become  involved 
with  the  culpable  and  the  unfriendly  ;  and  as  the 
accounts  that  arrived  from  America  continued  to 
jnanifefl  an  invariable  attachment  in  the  general 
.  mafs  of  the  people  to  their  original  ally,  in  oppofition 
to  the  new-fangled  Wafhins^ton  fa61;ion, — the  refo- 
lutions  that  had  been  taken  were  fufpended.  It 
happened  alfo  fortunately  enough,  that  Gouverneur 
IMorris  was  not  minifter  at  this  time. 

There  is,  however,  one  point  that  yet  remains  in 
embryo,  and  which,  among  other  things,  ferves  to 
fliew  the  ignorance  of  the  Wafhington  treaty-mak- 
isrs,  and  their   inattention   to   pre»exi{Ving   treaties 


(         4<S         ) 

when  they  were  employing  themfelyes  In  framirig 
or  ratifying  the  new  treaty  with  England, 

The  fecond  article  of  the  treaty  ef  commerce 
ibetween  the  United  States  and  France  fays  :  ^«  The 
"  moil  chriftian  king  and  the  United  States  engage 
*<  mutually,  not  to  grant  any  particular  favour  to 
*<  otlier  nations  in  refpe6l  of  commerce  and  naviga- 
*«  tion  that  fhall  not  immediately  become  common 
**  to  the  other  party,  who  fhall  enjoy  the  fame  fa- 
^'  vour  freely,  if  the  concefTion  was  freely  made,  or 
■*'  on  allowing  the  fame  compenfation  if  the  con- 
^'  ceflion  was  conditionaL" 

Ail  the  conceffions  therefore  made  to  England  by 
Jay*s  treaty  are,  through  the  medium  cf  this  fecond 
article  in  the  pre-exifting  treaty,  made  to  France, 
and  become  engrafted  into  the  treaty  with  France^ 
and  can  be  exercifed .  by  her  as  a  matter  of  rightj 
the  fame  as  by  England. 

Jay's  treaty  makes  a  conce€ion  to  England,  ;and 
that  unconditionally,  of  feizing  naval  flores  in  Ame- 
rican fhips  and  condemning  them  ?s  contraband. 
it  makes  alfo  a  ccncellion-  to  England  to  feize  •-  pr-o- 
vlfions  and  ether  articles  in  American  ihips.  Other 
articles  are  all  other  articles ^  and  none  but  an 
ignoramus,  or  iornething  worfe,  vwculd  have  put 
fuch  a  phrafe  into  a  treaty.  The  condition  aanex«!« 
ed  to  this  cafe,  is,  that,  the  proyil:ona.<asd  other  ar- 
ticles fo.feized  are  to  be  pa-idior  at.a  price  jto-be  .a- 


,  (         47  ) 

gpced  upon,     Mr.  Yraftiington,  as  Prefident,  rati^:. 
cd  this  treaty  after  he  knev/  the  Britifh  government 
had  recommenced  an  indifcriminate  feizure  of  pro- 
vifions  and  of  all  other  articles  in  American  fhips  ; 
2nd  it  is  now  known  that  thofe  feizures'  were  made 
to  fit  out  the  expedition  going   to   Quiberon    Bay, 
and  it  was  known,  before  hand  that  they  would  be . 
made.     The  evidence  goes,   alfo,   a  good   way  to 
prove  that  Jay  and  Grenville  undetftood  each  other 
upon  that  fubje£t.     Mr.  Pinckney,  when  he  palTed 
through  France  on  his  way  to  Spain,  fpoke  of  the 
recommencement  of  the    fei2^ures    as  a    thing  that 
would  take  place.     The  French  government  had  by 
fome  means  received  information   from  London  to 
the  fame  piirpofe,  with  the   addition-,  that  th^  re- 
commencement of  the  feizures  would  caufe  no  mif- 
vmderftanding  between  the  Britifh   and  American 
governments.     Grenville,  in  defending   himfelf  a- 
gainft  the  oppoiition  in  Parliament  on  account    of 
the  fcarcity  of  corn,  C"*id  {(et  his  fpeech  at  the  cpen»-^ 
ing  of  the  Parliament  that  m"^t  0£V.   2pth  i  jgic ) 
that  the  fupplies  for  the   ^uiheron  expedition.  *were  fur- 
nipped  out  cf  the  American  fhlps ;  and.  all  the  accounts 
received  at  that  time  from  England  Hated,  that  thofe 
feizures" were- made  under   the    treat)^     After  the 
fupplies  for  the  Quiberon  expiedition  had  been  pro- 
eured  and  the  expected  fucG<ds.  had  ^iled,  the  feiz- 
ure* were  couuter  n^anded  j    and,  had  tlxe   French 


(       4^       )\ 

feizcd  proviiion  veiTels  going  to   England,  it  is  pro-{ 
bable  that  the  Quiberon  expedition  could  not  have 
been:  attempted. 

In  one  point  of  view,  the  treaty  with  England  o- 
perates  as  a  loan  to  the  Englifh  government.  It 
gives  permiffion  to  that  government  to  take  Ameri- 
can property  at  fea  to  any  amount  and  pay  for  it 
"*vhen  it  fuits  her  -,  and  befides  this,  the  treaty  is  in 
every  point  of  viev/  a  furrender  of  the  rights  of, 
American  commxcrce  and  navigation,  and  a  refufal 
to  France  of  the  rights  of  neutrality.  The  Ameri- 
can flag  is  not  now  a  neutral  flag  to  France  :  Jay's" 
treaty  of  furrender  gives  a  monopoly  of  it  to  Eng- 
land. 

On  the  contrary,  the  treaty  of  comrnerce  be- 
tween America  and  France  was  formed  on  the  mofl 
liberal  principles,  and  calculated  to  give  the  great- 
eft  encouragement  to  the  infant  commerce  of  Ame- 
rica. France  was  neither  a  carrier  nor  an  exporter 
of  naval  ftores  or  ofprovifion^,  Thofe  articles  be- 
longed wholly  to  America,  and  they  had  all  the 
proteftion  in  that  treaty  which  a  treaty  could  give. 
But  fo  much  has  that  treaty  been  perverted,  that 
the  liberality  of  it,  on  the  part  of  France,  has  ferv- 
ed  to  encourage  Jay.  to  form  a  counter-treaty  with 
England ;  for  he  muft  have  fuppofed  the  hands  of 
France  tied  up  by  her  treaty  with  America,  when 
he  was  making  fuch  large  conceflions  in  favour  of 


(        49) 

r    5 

England.  The  injury  v^;;hich  Mr.  Wafhington's  ad- 
miniftration  has  done  to  the  chara£ler  as  well  as  to 
the  commerce  of  America  is  too  great  to  be  repair-^ 
ed  by  him.  Foreign  nations  will  be  fhy  of  making 
treaties  with  a  government  that  has  given  the  faith- 
lefs  example  of  perverting  the  liberality  of  a  former 
treaty  to  the  injury  of  the  party  with  whom  it  was 
made. 

In  what  a  fraudulent  light  muft  Mr.  Wafliing- 
ton's  character  appear  in  the  world,  when  his  de- 
clarations and  his  conduct  are  compared .  together  ! 
Here  follows  the  letter  he  wrote  to  the  Committee 
of  Public  Safety  whilft  Jay  was  negociating  in  pro- 
found fecrecy  this  treacherous  treaty. 

«  George  Wafliington,  Prefident  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  to  the  Reprefentatiyes  of  the 
French  people,  members  of  the  Committee  of  Pub- 
lic Safety  of  the  French  Reptihlic,  the  great  and  good 
friend  and  all-j  of  the  United  States. 

"  On  the  intimation  of  the  wifh  of  the  French  Re- 
public, that  a  new  minifter  fhould  be  fent  from  the 
United  States,  I  refolved  to  manifeft  my  fenfe  q£ 
the  readinefs  with  which  my  requeft  was  fulfilled 
[that  of  recalling  Genet]  by  immediately  fulfilling 
the  requeft  of  your  government  [that  of  recalling 
Morris.] 

*«  It  was  fome  time  before  a  chara£ler  could  be  ob- 
tained, worthy  of  the  high  office  of  expreifing  the 

G 


(         5^         ) 

attachment  of  the  United  States  to  the  happinefs  o£ 
our  allies^  a?id  drawing  clofer  the  bonds  of  our  friend- 
jh'tp,  I  have  now  made  choice  of  James  Monroe, 
one  of  our  dillinguifhed  citizens,  to  refide  near  the 
French  repubhc,  in  quality  of  miniiler  plenipoten- 
tiary of  the  United  States  of  America.  |ie  is  in- 
ilru6led  to  bear  to  you  o\xx  ftncere  folicitude  for  your 
ivelfare,  and  to  cultivate  ivlth  zeal  tJye  cordiality  fo  happily 
fuhfijTmg  hetiveeji  us.  From  a  knowledge  of  his,  fide- 
lity, probity  and  good  condu61:,  I  have  entire  confi- 
dence that  he  will  render  himfelf  acceptable  to  you, 
and  give  effetTi:  to  our  defire  of  preferving  and  ad- 
vancing^ on  all  Goca/tonSy  the  i?iteref  and  connexion  of 
the  two  nations.  I  befeech  you  therefore  to  give  full 
credence  to  whatever  he  fiiall  fay  to  you  on  the  part 
of  the  United  States,  and,  jnoft  of  ally  when  hefoall 
affure  you  that  your  profperity  is  an  ohjeB  of  our  a^eBion^ 
and  I  pray  God  to  have  the  French  republic  in  his 
holy  keeping. 

«  C^.  WASHINGTON." 

V/as  it  by  entering  into  a  treaty  with  England,  to 
furrendwr  French  property  on  board  American  fhips 
to  be  feized  by  the  Englifli,  whilft  Englifii  property 
on  board  Am.erican  fhips  was  declared  by  the  French 
treaty  not  to  be  feizable,  that  the  bonds  of  frie7Tdfhip 
between  America  and  France  were  to  be  drawn  the  cha- 
fer ?  Was  it  by   declaring  naval  fiores    qontraband: 


{         5'         ) 

when  coming  to  France,  when  by  the  French  treaty 
they  were  not  contraband  when  going  to  England, 
that  the  connexion  hetiveen  France  and  America  nvas  to 
ie  advaTiced  ?  Was  it  by  opening  the  American  ports 
to  the  Britrfh  navy  in  the  prefent  war,  from  which 
ports  that  fame  navy  had  been  expelled  by  the  aid 
folicited  from  France  in  the  American  war  (and  that 
aid  gratuitoully  given)  that  the  gratitude  of  Ameri- 
ca was  to  be  fhewn,  and  the  folicitude  fpoken  of  in 
the  letter  demonftrated  ? 

As  the  letter  was  a'ddrelTed  to  the  Committee  of 
Public  Safety,  Mr  Wafliington  did  not  exped:  it 
would  get  abroad  in  the  v/orld,  or  be  itQ.x\  by  any 
other  eye  than  that  of  Robefpierre,  or  be  heard  by 
any  other  ear  than  that  of  the  Committee  ;  that  it 
would  pafs  as  a  whifper  acrofs  the  Atlantic,  from 
one  dark  chamber  to  the  other,  and  there  terminate. 
It -was  calculated  to  remove  from  the  mind  of  the 
Committee  all  fufpicion  upon  Jay's  million  to  England, 
and,  in  this  point  of  view,  it  was  fuited  to  the  cir- 
cumdances  of  the  moment  then  pafiTmg  j  but  as  the 
event  of  that  milTion  has  proved  the  letter  to  be  hy- 
pocritical, it  ferves  no  other  purpofe  of  the  prefent 
moment  than  to  fhew  that  the  writer  is  not  to  be 
credited.  Tv,'o  circumftances  ferved  to  make  the 
reading  of  the  letter  neceflary  in  the  Convention. 
The  onev/as,  that  thofe  who  fucceeded  on  the  fall 

t)f  Robefpierre,  found  it  mofl:    pwper   to  a6l  with 

G   2 


(  52  ) 

publicity  5  the  other,  to  extinguifh  the  fufpicioris 
which  the  flrange  condii6t  of  Morris  had  occafioned 
in  France. 

"When  the  Britifn  treaty,  and  the  ratification  of  it 
by  Mr.  Y/aihington,  was  known  in  France,  all  fur- 
ther declarations  from  him  of  his  good  difpolition, 
as  an  ally  and  a  friend,  pafled  for  fo  many  cyphers  ; 
but  ftili  it  appeared  necefTary  to  him  to  keep  up  the 
farce  of  declarations.  It  is  ftipulated  in  the  Britifli 
treaty,  that  commiiTioners  are  to  report  at  the  end 
of  two  years  on  the  cafe  of  neutral Jlfips  making  neu- 
tral property  In  the  mean  time  neutral  Ihips  do  not 
make  neutral  property,  according  to  the  Britifh 
treaty,  and  they  do^  according  to  the  French  treaty. 
The  prcfervation,  therefore,  of  tlie  French  treaty 
became  of  great  importance  to  England,  as  by  that 
means  flic  can  em.ploy  American  fhips  as  carriers j 
whilft  the  fame  advantage  is  denied  to  France. 
V\/'hether  the  French  treaty  could  exift  as  a  matter 
of  right  after  thisclandeftine  perverfion  of  it,  could 
not  but  give  feme  apprehenfions  to  the  partizans  of 
the  Britiih  treaty,  and  it  became  neceflary  to  them 
to  make  up,  by  line  words,  what  was  wanting  in 
good  anions. 

An  opportunity  offered  to  that  purpofe.  The 
Convention,  on  the  public  reception  of  Mr.  Mon- 
roe, ordered  the  American  flag  and  the  French  flag 
to  be  difplayed  uiiitedly  in  the  hall  of  the  Ccnven- 


(         53         ) 

tion.  Mr.  Monroe  made  a  prcfent  of  an  American 
flag  for  the  purpoie.  The  Convention  returned 
this  compliment  by  fending  a  French  flag  to  Ame- 
rica, to  be  prefented  by  their  miniftcr,  Mr.  Adct, 
to  the  American  government.  This  refolution  paf- 
fed  long  before  Jay's  treaty  was  known  or  fufpe£b- 
ed ;  it  pafled  in  the  days  of  confidence  j  but  die 
flag  was  not  prefented  by  Mr.  Adct  till  fevc- 
ral  months  after  the  treaty  had  been  ratified.  Mr. 
Wafhington  made  this  the  occafion  of  faying  fomc 
fine  things  to  the  French  Miniftcr,  and  the  better 
to  get  himfelf  into  tune  to  do  this,  he  began  by 
faying  the  fineft  things  of  himfelf, 

**  Borxi,  hr  (faid  he)  in  a  land  of  liberty  •,  hav'wg 
"  early  learned  its  value  ;  having  engaged  in  a  peri- 
*'  lous  conflidl  to  defend  it ;  having.  In  a  word,  de- 
"'  voted  the  beft  years  of  my  life  to  fecure  its  per- 
**  manent  eftablifhment  in  my  own  country  ;  my 
•'  anxious  recolle^ions,  my  fympathetic  feelings, 
•^  and  my  beft  wiflies  are  irrefiilibly  excited,  when- 
*«  ever,  in  any  country,  I  fee  an  opprefl'ed  people 
"  unfurl  the  banners  of  freedom." 

Mr.  Waftiington  having  expended  fo  many  fine 
phrafes  upon  himifelf,  was  obliged  to  invent  a  new 
one  for  the  French,  and  he  calls  them  "  wonder- 
ful people  !"  The  coalefced  powers  acknowledge  ns 
much. 

It  is  lauehablc  to  hear   Mr.  Wafhington  talk  of 


( 


54 


liiStfympatketk feelings,  who  has  always  been  remark'* 
ed,  even  among  his  friends^  for  not  having  any. 
He  haSj  however,  given  no  proof  of  any  to  me. 
As  to  the  pompous  encomiums  he  fo  hbcrally  pays 
to  himxfelf,  on  the  fcore  of  the  American  revolutionj, 
the  reality  of  them  may  be  queftioned  ;  and  {\nc^ 
he  has  forced  them  fo  much  into  notice,  it  is  fair 
to  examine  his  pretenfions. 

A  ftranger  might  be  led  to  fuppofe  from  th.t 
egotifm  v/ith  which  Mr.  Yv'afhingtcn  fpeaks,  that 
himfelf,  and  himfelf  only,  had  generated,  conducb- 
ed,  compleated,  and  eftabliihed  the  revolution  :  In 
fine,  that  it  was  all  his  own  doing. 

In  the  hriL  r!:.ce,  as  to  the  political  part,  he  had 
no  (hare  in  it ;  and  therefore  the  whole  of  that  is 
out  of  the  quefiion'  with  refpe6l  to  him.  There 
remains  then  only  the  military  part,  and  it  would 
have  been  prudent  in  Mr.  YVafhington  not  to  have 
awakened  enquiry  upon  that  fubjecl.  Fame  then 
was  cheap  •,  he  enj  oyed  it  cheaply  y  and  nobody  Vv'as 
difpofed  to  take  away  the  laurels,  that,  whether  they 
were  acaulred    or  not.  had  been  z'vvin. 

Mr.  Wailiington's  merit  confifted  in  conftancy. 
But  conftancy  vras  the  common  virtue  of  llie  revo- 
lution. Who  was  there  that  was  incondant  ?  I 
know  of  but  one  mklitavy  defeftion,  that  of  Arnold  ; 
and  I  know  of  no  poMtical  defe^lion,  amon-^  thofe 
who  made  thcmfclves    eminent^  when   ihe  revolu- 


(         55         ) 

tlon  was  formed  by  the  declaration  of  independence^ 
Even  Silas  Deane,  though  he  attempted  to  defraud, 
did  not  betray. 

But  when  we  fpeak  of  military  character,  fome- 
thing  more  is  to  be  underftood  than  conftancy  ,  and 
fomething  more  ought  to  be  underftood  than  the 
Fabian  fyftem  of  doifig  nothing.  The  nothing  part 
can  be  done  by  any  body.  Old  Mrs.  Thompfon, 
the  houfe-keeper  of  head-quarters  (vv^ho  threatened 
to  make  the  fun  and  the  wind  {hint  through  Riving- 
ton  of  New-York)  could  have  done  it  as  well  as 
Mr.  Wafliington.  Deborah  would  have  been  as 
good  as  Barak. 

Mr.  Wafhinsrton  had  the  nominal  rank  of  Com- 
mander  in  Chiefj  but  he  was  not  fo  in  faft.  He 
had  in  reality  only  a  feparate  command.  He  had 
no  controul  over,  or  direction  of,  the  army  to  the 
northward,  under  Gates,  that  captured  Burgoyne  ^ 
nor  of  that  to  the  fouth,  under  Green,  that  recovered 
the  fouthern  States.  The  nominal  rank,  however,  of 
Commander  in  chief,  ferved  to  throw  upon  him  the 
luftre  of  thofe  actions,  and  to  make  him  appear  as 
the  foul  and  centre  of  all  the  military  operations  in 
America. 

He  commenced  his  command  June  1775,  dur- 
ing the  time  the  MalTachufetts  army  lay  before 
Softon,  and  after  the  affair  of  Bunker-hill.  The 
corame-nc-ci-nent  of  his  command    was    tlie   com- 


(      s6'     y 

inenccraent  of  ina£i:ivity.  Nothing  was  afterwards 
done,  or  attempted  to  be  done,  during  the  nine 
months  he  remained  before  Bofton,  If  we  may 
judge  from  the  refiftance  made  at  ConcOrd  and  af- 
terwards at  Bunker-hill,  there  was  a  fpirit  of  en- 
terprife  at  that  time,  which  the  prefence  of  Mr. 
Wafliington  chilled  into  cold  defence.  By  the  ad- 
vantage of  a  good  exterior,  he  attra£ts  refpecl, 
which  his  habitual  filence  tends  to  preferve  j  but  he 
has  not  the  talent  of  infpiring  ardour  in  an  army^ 
The  enemy  removed  from.  Bofton  in  March  1776, 
to  wait  for  reinforcements  from  Europe,  and  to 
take  a  more  advantageous  pofition  at  New  York. 

The  inactivity  of  the  cam.paign  of  1775  on  the, 
part  of  General  Walliington,  when  the  enemy  had 
a  lefs  force  than  in  any  future  period  of  the  v/ar, 
and  the  injudicious  choice  of  pofitions  taken  by. 
him  in  the  campaign  of  1776,  when  the  enemy  h^id. 
its  greateil  force,  necefiarily  produced  the  lofTes  and 
misfortunes  that  marked  that  gjoomy  campaign. 
The  pohtions  taken  were  either  illands  or  necks  of 
land.  In  the  former,  the  enemy,  by  the  aid  of 
their  fhips  could  bring  their  whole  force  againft  a 
part  of  Gen.  Wafliington's,  as  in  the  affair  of  Long- 
Ifland,  and  in  the  latter  he  might  be  fhut  up  as  in 
the  bottom  of  a  bag.  This  liad  nearly  been  the  cafe 
at  New  York,  and  it  was  fo  in  part  j  it  was  a£lu„ 
ally  the  cafe  at  Fort  Wafliington  j  and  would  have 


(        57        ) 

teen  the  cafe  at  Fort  Lee  if  Gen.  Greene  had  not 
moved  precipitately  off,  leaving  every  thing  behind, 
and  by  gaining  Hackinfach  bridge,  got  out  of  the  bag 
of  Bergen  neck.  How  far  Mr.  Wafliington,  as  a 
General,  is  blamcable  for  thefe  matters,  I  am  not 
undertaking  to  determine,  but  they  are  evidently 
defects  in  military  geography.  The  fuccefsful  fkir- 
mifhes  at  the  clofe  of  that  carripaign  (matters  that 
would  fcarcely  be  rioticed  in  a  better  ftate  of  things) 
make  the  brilliant  exploits  of  Gen.  Wafhington's 
feven  campaigns.— No  wonder  we  fee  fo  much  pu- 
fillanimity  in  the  Prefident  w^hen  we  fee  fo  little  en- 
terprife  in  the  GeiieraL 

The  campaign  of  1777  became   faiilous,  not  by 
any  thing  on  the  part  of  Gen.  Wafliington,  but  by 
the  capture  of  Gen.  Burgcyne  and  the   arrny  under 
his  command,  by  the  Northern  army  at  Saratoga 
under  Gen.  Gates.     So  totally  diftinft  and  uncon- 
nedled  were  the    two    armies  of  Wafliington   and 
Gates,  and  fo  independent  was   the  latter  of  the 
authority  of  the  nominal  Commander  in  Chief,  that 
the  two  Generals  did  not    fo    much  as  correfpond, 
and  it  was  only  by  a  letter  of  Gen.   (finee  Gover- 
nor) Clinton,  that  General  Wafhington  was  inform- 
ed of   that  event.     The  Britifh  took  polTeffion  of 
Philadelphia  this  year,  which   they  .evacuated  the 
next,  jufl:  time  enough  to  fave  their  heavy  baggage 
and  fleet  of  tranfports  from  capture   by  the  French 

H 


(        58        ) 

Admiral  d'Eftaing,  who  arrived  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Delaware  fcon  after. 

The  capture  of  Burgoyne  gave  an  eclat  In  Europe 
to  the  American  arms,  and  facilitated  the  alliance 
with  France.  The  eclat,  however,  was  not  kept 
up  by  any  thing  on  the  part  of  Gen.  Walhington. 
The  fame  unfortunate  langour  that  marked  his  en- 
trance into  the  field  continued  always,  Difcontents 
began  to  prevail  ftrongly  againft  him,  and  a  party 
was  formed  in  Congrefs,  whilfl  fitting  at  York- 
Town,  in  Pennfylvania,  for  removing  him  from  the 
command  of  the  army.  The  hope,  however,  of 
,  better  times,  the  news  of  the  alliance  with  France, 
and  the  unwillingnefs  of  Ihewing  difcontent,  difil- 
pated  the  matter. 

Nothing  was  done  in  the  campaigns  of  1778, 
1779,  1780,  in  the  part  where  Gen.  Wafhlngtoft 
commanded,  except  tiie  taking  Stony  Point  by 
Gen.  Wayne.  The  Southern  States  In  the  mean 
-time  were  over-run  by  the  enemy.  They  were  af- 
terwards recovered  by  Gen.  Greene,  who  had  in  a 
very  great  meafure  created  the  army  that  accom- 
plifhed  that  recovery.  In  all  this  Gen.  Wafliing- 
ton  had  no  Ihare.  The  Fabian  fyftem  of  war,  fol- 
lowed by  him,  began  nov/  to  unfold  itfelf  with  all 
its  evils,  for  what  is  Fabian  war  without  Fabian 
means  to  funport  it. 


^        59        ) 

The  finances  of  Congrefs,  depending  wholly  on 
emiffions  of  paper  money,  were  exhaufted.  Its 
credit  was  gone.  The  continental  trcafury  was 
not  able  to  pay  the  expence  of  a  brigade  of  waggons 
to  tranfport  the  neceflary  ftores  to  the  army,  and 
yet  the  fole  obje£l,  the  eftablifhment  of  the  revolu-, 
tion,  was  a  thing  of  remote  diflance.  The  time  I 
am  now  fpeaking  of  is  the  latter  end  of  the  year 
1780. 

In  this  fitiiation  of  things  it  was  found  not  only 
expedient  but  abfolutely  neceiTary  for  Congrefs  to 
ftate  the  whole  cafe  to  its  ally.  I  knew  more  of 
this  matter  (before  it  came  into  Congrefs  or  was 
known  to  General  Wafhington)  of  its  progrefs,  and 
its  ifTue,  than  I  chufe  to  ftate  in  this  letter.  Col. 
John  Laurens,  was  fent  to  France  as  Envoy  Ex-» 
traordinary  on  this  occaiion,  and  by  a  private  agree- 
ment between  him  and  me  I  accompanied  him. 
We  failed  from  Bofton  in  the  Alliance  frigate, 
Feb.  nth,  1 78 1.  France  had  already  done  much 
in  accepting  and  paying  bills  drawn  by  Congrefs. 
She  was  now  called  upon  to  do  more.  The  event 
®f  Col.  Laurens's  million,  with  the  aid  of  the  ve- 
nerable minifter,  Franklin,  was,  that  France  gave 
in  money,  as  a  prefent,  fix  millions  of  livres,  and 
ten  millions  more  as  a  loan,  and  agreed  to  fend  a 
fleet  of  not  lefs  than  thirty  fail  of  the  line,  at  her 
own  expence,  as  an  aid  to  America:     Col.  Laurens 

n  7. 


(         6o         ) 

und  myfelf  returned  from  Breil  the  ift  of  June 
following,  taking  with  us  two  millions  and  an  half 
of  livres  (upwards  of  one  hundred  thoufand  pounds 
fterling)  of  the  money  given,  and  convoying  two 
fhips  with  fhores. 

We  arrived  at  Boflonthe  25th  Auguft  fQllov/ing. 
De  Grafie  arrived  v/ith  the  French  fleet  in  the 
Chefapeak  at  the  fame  tim.e,  and  was  afterwards 
joined  by  that  of  Barras,  making  31  fail  of  the  line» 
The  money  was  tranfoorted  in  waggons  from  Bof- 
ton  to  the  Bank  at  Philadelphia,  of  which  Mr. 
Thomas  Willing,  who  has  fmce  put  himfelf  at  the 
head  of  the  lill  of  petitioners  in  favour  of  the  Britifli 
treaty,  was  then  Prelident,  and  it  was  by  the  aid 
of  this  money,  and  of  this  fleet,  and  of  Rocham- 
beau's  arm^y,  that  Cornvv^allis  was  taken ;  the  law- 
rels  of  which  have  Ijeen  unjuftly  given  to  Mr.  Wafli- 
ington.  His  merit  in  that  affair  was  no  more  than 
that  of  any  othe"  Am.erican  officer, 

I  have  had,  and  (till  have,  as  much  pride  in  the 
American  revolution  as  any  man,  or  as  Mr.  Wafh^ 
Ington  has  a  right,  to  have  *,  but  that  pride  has 
never  made  me  forgetful  from  whence  the  great  aid 
came  that  com.pleated  the  bufmefs,.  Eoreign  aid. 
(that  of  France)  was  calculated  upon  at  the  com-j 
mencement  of  thegrevolutlon.  It  is  one  of  the  fub^ 
je£ls  treated  of  in. the  pamphlet.  Gcrwzon   Scnfe^  but 


(     61     ) 

as  a  matter  that  could  not  be  hoped  for,  unlefs  In- 
jdependence  was  declared. 

It  is  as  well  the  ingratitude  as  the  pufiUanimity 
of  Mr.  Wafhington  and  the  Wafhington  fadion, 
that  has  brought  upon  America  the  lofs  of  character 
Ilie  now  fufTers  in  the  world,  and  the  numerous 
evils  her  commerce  has  undergone,  and  to  which  it 
is  yet  expofed.  The  Britifh  minillry  foon  found 
out  what  fort  of  men  they  had  to  deal  with,  an^t 
they  dealt  with  them  accordingly  \  and  if  further 
explanation  was  wanting,  it  has  been  fully  given 
fmce  in  the  fnivelling  addrefs  of  the  New-York 
Chamber  of  Commerce  to  the  Prefident,  and  in 
that  of  fundry  merchants  of  Philadelphia,  which 
was  not  much  Ijetter. 

When  the  revolution  of  America  was  finally  ef- 
tablifhed  by  the  termination  of  the  war,  the  world 
gave  her  credit  for  great  character  ;  and  Ihe  had 
nothing  to  do  but  to  ftand  firm  upon  that  grounds 
The  Britifh  miniftry  had  their  hands  too  full  of 
trouble  to  have  provoked  unneceflarily  a  rupture 
w^ith  her,  had  fhe  fhewn  a  proper  refolution  to  de- 
fend her  rights.  But  encouraged  as  they  were  by 
the  fubmiflive  chara^ler  of  her  executive  adminif- 
tration,  they  proceeded  from  infult  to  infult  till 
none  more  were  left  to  be  offered.  The  propofals 
made  by  Sweden   and  Denmark  to  the  American 


(    ^2     ) 

Sidminiflration  were  difregarded.  I  know  ncs^t  if  f© 
much  2s  an  anfwer  has  been  returned  to  them. 
The  miTiiiier  pen:te?itiary  (as  fome  of  the  Britifh 
prints  called  him)  Mr.  Jay,  was  fent  on  a  pilgri- 
mage to  London,  to  make  ail  up  by  penance  and 
petition.  In  the  mean  time  the  lengthy  and  drow- 
fy  writer  of  the  pieces  figned  Camillus  held  himfelf 
IB  referve  to  vindicate  every  thing  •,  and  to  found,  in 
America,  the  tociin  of  terror  upon  the  inexhauftible 
refources  of  England.  Her  refources,  fays  he,  are 
greater  than  thofe  of  all  the  other  powers.  This 
man  is  fo  intoxicated  v/ith  fear  and  finance  that  he 
knows  not  the  difference  between  plus  and  minus — 
between  an  hundred,  pounds  in  hand,  and  an  hun^ 
dred  pounds  worfe  than  nothing. 

The  commerce  of  America,  fo  far  as  it  had  been 
eftabiiflied  by  all  the  treaties  that  had,  been  formed 
prior  to  that  by  Jay,  was  free,  and  the  principles 
upon  which  it  was  eftablifhed  were  goodc  That 
ground  ought  never  to  have  been  departed  from. 
It  v.-as  the  judicable  ground  of  right,  and  no  tem= 
porary  difficulties  ought  to  have  induced  an  aban- 
donment of  it.  The  cafe  no'v  i?  otherwife.  The 
ground,  the  fcene,  the  pretenfions,  the  every  thing, 
are  changed.  The  commerce  of  America  is,  by 
Jay*s  treaty,  put  under  foreign  dominion.  The  fea 
i*  not  free  for  her.-  ■  Her  right  to  navigste  it  is  re* 


(        63         ) 

4ucecl  to  the  right  of  efcaping ;  that  is,  until  (omk 
fhip  of  England  or  France,  flops  her  veflels  and 
carries  them  into  port.  Every  article  of  American 
produce,  whether  from  the  fda  or  the  land,  fifh, 
flefli,  vegetable,  or  manufacture,  is,  by  Jay's  trea- 
ty, made  either  contraband  or  feizable.  Nothing  is 
exempt.  In  all  other  treaties  of  commerce  the  ar- 
ticle which  enumerates  the  contraband  articles,  fuch 
as  fire  arms,  gun  powder,  &c.  is  followed  by  ano- 
ther article  which  enumerates  the  articles  not  con- 
traband :  but  it  is  not  fo  in  Jay's  treaty.  There  is 
no  exempting  article.  Its  place  is  fupplied  by  the 
article  for  feizing  and  carrying  into  port  5  and  the 
fweeping  phrafe  of  *«  provifions  and  other  articleSy^ 
includes  every  thing.  There  never  was  fuch  a  bafe 
and  fervile  treaty  of  furrendcr  fmce  treaties  began 
to  exift. 

This  is  the  ground  upon  which  America  now 
{lands.  All  her  rights  of  commerce  and  navigation 
have  to  commence  anew,  and  that  with  lofs  of 
character  to  begin  with.  If  there  is  fenfe  enough 
left  in  the  heart  to  call  a  blufh  into  the  cheek,  the 
Wafhington  adminiflration  mull  be  afham.ed  to  ap- 
pear.  And  as  to  you,  fir,  treacherous  in  pri- 
vate friendfhip  (for  fo  you  have  been  to  me,  and 
that  in  the  day  of  danger)  and  a  hypocrite  in  pub- 
lic life,  th«  world  will  be  puzzled  to  decide,  whe- 


(         ^4         )    __ 

ther  you  are  an  apoftate  or  an  impoftor  ♦,  whether 
you  have  abandoned  good;  pTinciples,  or  whether 
you  ever  had  any  ? 

THOMAS  PAINE, 


tJ^H»rgBW>l»«<B*liMWWW>a»iW»<WWWWMMIIM— ■— — ttlmHIMimUIMUII  ilI.mfWlllMMiJ'i  "WgO 


APPENDIX. 


MEMORIAL 

jiddrejfed  to   J  AMES  MoNROE,     Mint/ier  from,    the 
United  States  of  America y  to  the  French  Republic. 

By  Thomas  PainEo 

N.  B.   The  letter  of  Mr.  Monroe,  on  page  20  is  an 
anfwet  to  this  Memorials 

Prifon  of  the  Luxembourgy  Sept,  i  othy  1 796. 

IAddrefs  this  Memorial  to  you  in  confequence  of 
a  letter  I  received  from  a  friend,  1 8  Frudlidor, 
(Sept.  4th)  in  which  he  fays  :  "  Mr.  Monroe  has 
"  told  me  that  he  has  no  orders  (meaning  from  the 
**  American  government)  refpe£ling  you,  but  I  am 
«  fure  he  will  leave  nothing  undone  to  liberate  you  i 
<"<  but,  from  what  I  learn  from  ail  the  late  Ameri- 
««  cans,  you  "are  not  confidered,  either  by  the  gov- 
«<  ernment  or  by  the  individuals,  as  an  American  ci- 
««  tizen.  You  have  been  made  a  French  citizen, 
<*  which  you  have  accepted,  and  you  have  further 
*«  made  yourfelf  a  fervant  of  the  French  Republic, 
"  and  it  woul4  be  out  of  chara6ter  for  an  Ameri- 
^*-  can  minifter  to   interfere   in  their  internal  con- 

T 


66 


«*  cerns.  You  muft,  therefore,  either  be  hberatet^ 
<'  out  of  compliment  to  America,  or  ftand  your 
"  trial,  which  you  have  a  right  to  demand." 

This  information  was  fo  unexpected  by  me,  that 
I  am  at  a  lofs  how  to-  anfwer  it.  I  know  not  oil 
what  principle  it  originates  ;  whether  from  an  idea 
that  I  had  voluntarily  abandoned  my  citizenfhip  of 
America  for  that  of  France,  or  from  any  article  in 
the  American  conftitution  applied  to  me.  The  firft 
is  untrue  with  refpefl:  to  any  intention  on  my  part ; 
and  the  fecond  is  without  foundation,  as  I  fhall 
fhew  in  the  courfe  of  this  memorial. 

The  idea  of  conferring  the  honor  of  citizenfliip 
upon  foreigners  who  had  diftinguiflied  themfelves  in 
propagating  the  principles  of  liberty  and  hum.anity, 
in  oppolition  to  defpotifm,  war  and  blcodfhed,  was 
iirft  propofed  by  me  to  La  Fayette,  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  French  revolution,  when  his 
heart  appeared  to  be  warmed  with  thofe  prin#ifftes. 
My  motive  in  making  this  propofal  was  to  render 
the  people  of  •different  nations  more  fraternal  than 
they  had  been  or  then  were.  I  obferv^ed  .that  almofi: 
every  branch  of  fcience  had  poiTeiled  itfelf  of  the  ex- 
ercife  af  this  right,  fo  far  as  regarded  its  ov/n  in- 
ftitution.  Mofl:  of  tlie  academies  and  focieties  iii 
Europe  conferred  the  rank  of  honorary  member 
upon  foreigi^ers  eminent  in  knd'wlege,  and  made 
them  members  of  their  litcvary  or  fcicntiiic  republic, 


(        <57         ) 

ivithout  affefting  or  any  ways  diminifhing  their 
rights  of  citizenfhip  in  their  own  country,  or  in 
other  focieties  ;  and  why  the  fcience  of  govern- 
ment Ihould  not  have  the  fame  advantage,  or  why 
the  people  of  one  nation  fhould  not,  by  their  repre- 
fentatives,  exercife  the  right  of  conferring  the  honor 
of  citizenfhip  upon  individuals  eminent  in  another 
nation,  without  affecting  their  rights  of  citizenfliip 
in  their  proper  country,  is  a  problem  yet  to  be 
folved. 

I  now  proceed  to  remark  on  that  part  of  the  let- 
ter in  which  the  writer  fays,  that  "  from  all  he  can 
*<  learn  from  the  late  Americans,  I  am  not  confi- 
•f'  dered,  in  America,  either  by  the  government  or 
*«  by  the  i:  d  vidualsj  as  an  American  citizen." 

In  the  firll  place  I  wifh  to  afk,  what  is  here 
meant  by  the  government  of  America  ?  .The  m.em-' 
bers  who  compofe  the  government  are  only  indfvi- 
duals  ^hen  in  converfation,  and  who  muft  proba- 
bly hold  very  different  opinions  upon  the  fubjccl. 
Have  Congrefs  as  a  body  made  ^.ry  declaration  re- 
fpe£ling  me,  that  they  no  longer  coniider  me  as  a 
citizen  ?  If  they  have  not,  any  thing  they  may  other- 
wife  fay  is  no  more  than  the  opinion  of  individuals^ 
and  confequently  is  not  legal  authority,  nor  any 
wife  authority  to  deprive  any  man  of  his  citizen- 
fhip.     Befides,  whether    a  man    has  forfeited  his 

rights  of  citizenfhip  is  a  queftion  not  determinable 

H  2 


(        <58        ) 

^  Congrcfs,  but  by  a  Court  of  Judicature  and  a 
Jury;  and  muft  depend  upon  evidence  and  the  ap-p 
plication  of  fome  law  or  article  of  t^ie  conftitutioH 
to  the  cafe.  No  fuch  proceeding  has  yet  been  had, 
and  confequently  I  remain  a  citizen  until  it  be  had, 
be  that  determination  what  it  may  ;  for  there  can 
be  no  fuch  thing  as  a  fufpenfion  of  rights  in  the  in- 
terim. 

I  am  aware  of  the  article  of  the  conftitution 
which  fays,  as  nearly  as  I  can  r^olledl,  that  any 
citizen  of  the  United  States  who  fhall  accept  any 
title,  place,  or  office,  from  any, foreign  king,  prince 
or  ftate,  {hall  forfeit  and  lofe  his  right  of  citizen- 
fhip  ot  the  United  States.* 

Had  the  article  faid,  thzt  any  citizen  of  the  United 
States,  whofialtbe  member  of  any  foreign  convention  for 
the  purpofe  cf  forming  a  free  ccnjlittitisn^  fhall  forfeit 
and  lofe  the  right  of  citizepfhip  of  the  United  States, 
the  article  had  been  dire£lly  applicable  to  me  5-  but 
the  idea  of  fuch  an  article  never  could  have  enter- 
ed the  mind  of  the  American  Convention,  and  the 
prefent  article  is  altogether  foreign  to  the  cafe  with 
refpeft  to  me  j  for  it  fuppofes  a  government Jto  ac- 
tual exiftence,  arid  iibt  a  government  diflbived ; 
and  it  fuppofes  a  citizen  of  America  accepting  titles 


vir.^ 


»  Even  this  article  does  not  cx,ift  in  tlie  aianner  here  dated. 


(       >9        ) 

and  offices  under  that  government,  and  not  a^  citi- 
zen of  America  who  gives  his  affiftance  in  a  Con- 
vention chofen  by  the  people  for  the  purpofe  ol 
forming  a  government  ^^  fiovo,  founded  on  their 
authority. 

The  late  conftitution  and  government  of  France 
was  diflblved  the  loth  of  Augufl,  1792.  The 
National  Legifiatiye  Aflembly  then  in  being,  fuppof- 
ed  itfelf  without  authority  to  continue  its  fittings, 
and  it  propofed  to  the  departments  to  ele6l:,  not 
another  Legiflative  Body,  but  a  Convention  for  the 
exprefs  purpofe  of  forming  a  conftitution.  When 
the  Aflembly  were  difcourfing  on  this  matter,  fome 
of  the  members  faid,  that  they  wiflied  to  gain  all 
the  information  pofhble  upon  the  fubje6t  of  free 
conftituticns,  and  exprefled  a  wifh  to  invite  foreign- 
ers of  any  nation  to  the  Convention,  who  had  dif- 
tinguifhed  themfelves  in  defending,  explaining, 
aiid  propagating  the  principles  of  Liberty.  It  was 
on  this  occafion  that  my  na^me  was  mentioned  in 
the  Aflembly.  I  was  then  in  England.  After  this 
a  deputation  from  a  body  of  the  French  people,  in 
order  to  remove  any  obje£^ion  that  might  be  made 
againft  my  aflifting  at  the  propofed  Convention,  re- 
quefl:ed  the  Aflembly,  as  their  reprcfentatives,  to 
confer  on  me  the  title  of  French  Citizen ;  after 
which  I  was  eledled  in  four  different  departments, 
as  is  already  known. 


(      ?«      ) 

The  cafe  therefore  is,  that  I  accepted  nothing 
from  any  king,  princ-e,  or  fbate,  nor  from  any  gov-« 
ernment ;  for  Franc?  was  then  without  any  gov- 
ernment, except  what  arofe  from  neceffity  and 
confent.  Neither  did  I  make  mvfelf  a  fervant  of  the 
French  Republic,  as  the  letter  already  alluded  to  ex- 
pieires ;  for  France  at  that  time  was  not  a  Repub- 
lic, not  even  in  name.  She  was  altogether  a  peo« 
pie  in  a  flate  of  revolution. 

It  was  not  until  the  Convention  met,  that 
France  was  declared  a  Republic  and  monarchy  a- 
boliflied  ;  foon  after  which  a  committee  was  ele£l:- 
ed,  of  which  I  was  chofen  a  member,  to  form  a 
conftitution,  which  was  prefented  to  the  Conven- 
tion and  read  by  Condorcet  (who  was  alfo  a  mem- 
ber) the  15th  and  i6th  of  February  follov/ing  5 
but  was  not  to  be  taken  into  cpnlideration  till  after 
the  expiration  of  two  months.  The  diforders  and 
th€  revolutionary  government  th.at  took  place  after 
this  put  a  flop  to  any  further  progrefs  upon  the 
cafe. 

In  thus  employing  myfelf  upon  the  formation  of 
s  conftitution,  I  certainly  did  nothing  inconfiflent 
with  the  American  conftitution.  I  took  no  oath  of 
allegiance  to  France,  nor  any  other  oath  whatever. 
I  confidered  the  citizenfliip  they  had  prefented  me 
with,  as  an  honorary  mark  of  refpe£l:  paid  to  me, 
not  only  as  a  friend  of  liberty,  but  as  an  American 


(     11     ) 

citizen.  My  acceptance,  of  that,  or  of  the  deputy- 
fhip,  not  conferred  on  me  by  any  king,  prince, 
or  ftate,  but  by  a  people  in  a  flate  of  revolution 
and  contending  for  liberty,  required  no  transfer  o£ 
niy  allegiance  or  of  my  citizenfliip  from  America 
to  France.  In  America  I  ij'as  a  real  citizen,  paying 
taxes  annually  ;  in  France  I  was  a  volunteer  friend, 
employing  myfelf  on  a  temporary  fetvice.  Every. 
American  in  Paris  knevv^  that  it  was  my  conftant 
intention  to  return  to  America,  as  foon  as  a  con- 
flitution  {hould  be  eftablifhed  in  France,  and  that 
I  anxioufly  waited  for  that  event. 

I  ever  muft  deny  that  any  article  of  the  American 
conftitution  can  be  applied  either  literally,  intention- 
ally, or  conftrudtively  againft  me.  It  undoubtedly 
was  the  intention  of  the  convention  that  framed  the 
conftitution,  to  preferve  the  purity  of  the  American 
Republic  from  being  debafed  by  foreign  and  foppifb 
cuftoms ;  but  it  could  never  be  its  Intentions  to  a(3: 
againft  the  principles  of  liberty,  by  forbidding  its  ci- 
tizens to  aflift  in  promoting  thofe  principles  in  foreign 
countries.  Neither  could  it  be  its  intention  to  a£b 
againft  the  principles  of  gratitude  :  France  had  aide<f 
America  in  the  eftablifhment  of  her  revolution,  when 
invaded  and  opprefTed  by  England  and  her  auxilaries. 
France,  in  her  turn,  was  invaded  and  opprefled 
by  a  combination  of  foreign  defpots.  In  this  £- 
tuation  I  conceived  it  an  a<^  of  gratitude  in  me,  as 


(  72  ) 

i  titiztn  of  America,  to  render  her  in  return  the 
befl  fcrvices  I  could   perform.     I  came   to  France 
(for  i  was  in  England  when  I  was  elected)   not  to' 
enjoy  eafe,  emoluments,  or  foppifh  honours,  is  the 
strticle  fuppofes  y   but  to  encounter  diflficulties  and 
dangers  in  defence  of  liberty ;  and  I  much  queftion 
whether  thofe  who  now  malignantly  feek  to  turn  this 
to  my  injury  (for  fome  I  believe  do)  would  have  had 
courage  to  have  done  the   fame  thing.     I  am  fure 
Gouv.  Morris  v/ouB  not.     He  told  me  the  fecond 
daiy  after  my  arrival  in  Paris,  that  the   Auftrians 
and  Pruflians,  who   were  then  at   Verdun,  would 
be  in  Paris  in  a  fortnight.     I  have  no  idea,  faid  he, 
fhat  feventy  thoufand  difciplined  troo|Js  can  be  {lop£ 
in  their  march  by  any  power  in  France. 

Befides  the  reafons  I  have  already  given  for  ac« 
cepting  the  invitation  to  the  Convention,  I  had  a- 
tiother  that  has  reference  particularly  to  America, 
ind  which  I  mentioned  to  Mr.  — - — -  the  night 
before  I  left  London  to  come  to  JParis ;  that  it  was 
to  the  interejl  of  Amer'tcay  that  thefyjlem  of  European  gc-^ 
vernments  fijould  be  changed,  andplacedonthe  fame  prin- 
ciple ivith  her  own. 

It  is  certain  that  governments  upon  fimilar  princi- 
ples agree  better  together,  than  thofe  that  are  found- 
ed on  principles  difcordant  with  each  other  ;  and  the 
fame  rule  holds  good  with  refpe6^  to  the  people  living 
under  them,     l^  the  latter  cafe  they  offend  eacli 


{         73         ) 

btlier  by  pity  or'by  .reproach,  and  the  dlicofdancy 
carries  itfelf  into  matters  of  commerce.-  i  am  not 
an  ambitious  man,  but  perhaps-T  have  been  ah  am- 
bitious American.  ■  I^J^dve'nui/hrd^tor  fee  America  the 
mother  church  of  government, ' 

I  have  now  ftated  fuiRcient  matter  to  fhew,  that 
the  article  in  the  conilitution  is  not  applicable  to 
me,  and  that  any  fuch  application  of  it  t©  my  inju- 
ry, as  well  in  circumftances  as  in  rights,  is  illegal 
and  unconftitiitional.     Neither  do  I  believe  that  any 

lury  in  America,  when  thev    are  informed  /-^  l 
\J^^^  u.  tac  caie,  would  give  a  verdia  to  deprive 

me  of  my  right  upon  that  article.     The  citizens  of 
America,  I  believe,  arc  not  very  fond  of  permitting 
forced  and  indired   explanations  to  be   put  upon 
matters  of  this  kind.     I  know   not   what  were  the 
merits  of  the  cafe  with  refpeft  to  the  perfon  who  was 
profecuted  for  aaing  as  prize-mafter  to  a    French 
prize,  but  I  know  that  the   jury    gave  a  verdia  a- 
gainft  the  profecutica  ;    the  rights  I  have  acquired 
are  dear  to  me  •,     they  have  been  acquired  by  honor- 
able means,  and  by  dangerous  fervice  in  the  worft 
of  times,  and  I  cannot  permit  them  to  be  wrefted 
from  me.     I  conceive  it  my  duty  to  defend    them, 
as  the  cafe    involves  a  conftitutional  and   public 
qucftion,  which  is,  how  far   the  power  of  the  fe- 
deral government  (it  fhould  have  been  faid  m  this 

K 


(74         ) 

place  the  executive)  extends  in  depiiving  any  citizen 

of  his  rights  of  citizenfhip,  or  of  fufpending  them.- 

That  the  explanation  of  national  treaties  belongs 

to  Congrefs,  is  ftridtly  conftitutional  -,  but  not  the 

explanation  of  the  conftitution  itfelf,  upon  a  legal 

cafe,  any  more  than  the  explaination  of  law  in  the 

cafe  of  individual  citizens.     Thefe   are  altogether 

judiciary  queftions.     It  is,  however,  worth  obferv- 

ing,  that  Gongrefs  in  explaining  the  article  o£  the 

treaty   with  refpe£l  to  French^  prizes  and   French 

privateers,    confined   itfelf  ftridly    to    the   letter 

-^  ^be  article.  Let  them  explain  the  article  of  the 
conltitution  wim  ici^v^^^l  to   me  m  ui*.  ra***-^  «*«.* 

ncr,  and  that  decifion,  did  i*  appertain  to  them, 
could  not  deprive  me  of  my  rights  of  citizenfhip  or 
fufpend  them,  for  I  have  accepted  nothing  from  any 
king,  prince,  flate,  or  government. 

Painful  as  the  want  of  liberty  may  be,  it  is  a 
confolation  to  believe,  th?.t  my  imprifonment  proves 
to  the  v/orld  that  I  had  no  fhare  in  the  murderous 
fyftem  that  raged  during  the  reign  of  terror.  That 
I  was  an  enemy  to  it  both  morally  and  politically, 
is  known  to  all  that  had  any  knowledge  of  me  ^ 
and  could  I  have  written  French  as  well  as  I  can 
Engliih,  I  would  have  publicly  expofed  its  wicked- 
nefs  and  (liewn  the  ruin  with  which  it  was  preg- 
nant. Thofe  who  have  eftecmed  me  on  former 
eccafion's,  wkether  in  America  or  in  Europe  will,   I 


(         75        ). 

^tiow,  feel  no   caufe   to  abate   that  efleem,  when 
they  re>fle£l,    that  imprifonment  lulth  prefervation  cf 
charaSler  is  preferable  to  liberty  ivith  difgrace. 

The  letter  quoted  in  the  firft  page  of  this  memo- 
rial fays,  that  **  it  would  be  out  of  character  for  an 
^*  American  minjfler  to  interfere  in  the  internal 
<<  affairs  of  France."  This  goes  on  the  idea  that  I 
atn  a  citizen  of  France,  and  a  member  of  the  Con- 
vention, which  is  not  the  fa£l:.  The  Convention 
inciuded  me  in  the  vote  for  difmiffing  foreigners 
from  the  Convention,  and  the  Committees  impri- 
foned  me  as  a  foreigner.  It  alfo  fuppofes  decided- 
ly, that  the  article  in  the  American  conftitution 
refpe£ling  grants  made  to  American  citizens  by 
fi&reign  kings,  princes,  or  ftates,  is  applicable  to 
me  5  which  is  the  very  point  in  queflion,  and  a- 
gainft  the  application  of  which  I  contend.  I  (late 
evidence  to  the  minifter  to  fliew,  that  I  am  not 
v/ithin  the  letter  or  meaning  of  that  article ;  that 
it  cannot  operate  againft  me  ;  and  I  apply  to  him 
for  the  protection  that  I  conceive  I  have  a  right  to 
aik  and  to  receive.  The  internal  affairs  of  France, 
are  out  of  the  queflion  with  refpe^l:  to  my  applica- 
tion, or  his  interference.  I  afk  it  not  as  a  citizen 
of  France,  for  I  am  not  one  *,  I  afiC  it  not  a?5  a 
member  of  the  Convention^  for  I  am  not  one  ;  1 
afk  it  not  as  a  man,  againfl  whom  there  is  any  ac  • 
cufation',  for  there  is  nons ;  I  alk  It  not  as  an  cxu;^ 

K  2 


(        76        } 

from  America,  whofe  liberties  I  have  honorably  znd 
generoufly  contributed  to  defend  and  ellablifli  *,  I 
afk  it  as  a  citizen  of  America,  deprived  of  his  li- 
berty in  France  under  the  plea  of  his  being  a  for-* 
cigner  ;  and  I  afk  it,  becaufe  I  conceive  I  am  enti^ 
tied  to  it,  upon  every  principle  of  conftitutional  juf^ 
tice  and  national  honor. 


THOMAS  PAINE. 


NEW  BOOKS. 

THE  following  lateft  works  of  Tho- 
mas Paine  are  publifhed  at  the  Office  of  the  Au- 
pra.  No.  112  Market  flreet,  Philadelphia.  Book- 
fellers  may  be  fupplied  with  them  in  any  quantity^ 
The  Editions  were  publiihed  under  tlie  eye  of  the 
Author,  and  are  therefore  corrcft. 

Age  of  Reafon,   i  ft  Part. 
Do.  ad  Part. 

Diflertation  on  the  firft  principles  of  Government. 
Decline  and  fall  of  the  Englifh  Syftem  of  Finance. 


The  following  works  were  alfo  lately  pub- 
lifhed at  the  Office  of  the  Aurora. 

Private  letters  of  General  Waihington  in  June 
^nd  July  1776. 

Prench  Conftitution — a  French  and  an  Englifli 
Edition. 

French  Calendar  for  the  year  V, 

Debates  on  the  Britifh  Treaty. 

Condorcet  on  the  Human  Mind.  ; 

Zimmerman  on  folitudc,  &c.  &c. 


AGRARIAN  JUSTICE, 

OPPOSED    TO 

AGRARIAN  LAW, 

AND    TO 

AGRARIAN  MONOPOLY, 

BEING    A    PLAN   FOR 

MELIORATING  THE  CONDITION  OF  MAN^ 
By  Creating  in  every  Nation^ 

A  NATIONAL  FUND^, 

To  Pay  to  every  Perfon,  when  arrived  at  the  Age  of 
Twenty- ONE  Years,  the  Sum  of  Fifteet^ 
Pounds  Sterling,  to  enable  HiM  or  her  to  begin 
the  World  \ 

AND  ALSOj 

Ten  Pounds  Sterling  per  Annmn  during  life  to  every" 
Perfon  now  living  of  the  Age  of  Fifty  Years,  and 
to  all  others  when  they  fhall  arrive  at  that  Age,  to* 
enable  them  to  live  in  Old  Age  without  Wretchcd- 
nefs,  and  go  decently  out  of  the  World. 


By    THOMAS     PAINE, 

AUTHOR    OF    COMMON    SENSK,    RIGHTS    OF    MANf 
AGE  OF  REASON,    &C.  &C. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
PRINTED  BY   R.  FOLWELL^ 

FO  R 

BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN  BAGHE. 


PREFACE. 


HE  following  little  Piece  "was  written  in 

the  winter  of  lyg^  and  '96  ;  and^  as  I  had  not 

determined  whether  to  piiblijl)  it  during  the  pre- 

fent  war,  or  to  wait  till  the  co?n7nencement  of  a 

peace,  it  has  lain  by  me,  without  alteration  or 

4iddition,  from  the  time  it  was  written. 

What  has  determined  tne  to  puhlif}:>  it  now  is,  a 
Ser?non,  preached  by  Watson,  Bifhop  of  Lan- 
dafF.  Seme  of  my  readers  will  recoiled,  that  this 
Bifljop  wrote  a  book,  intitled.  An  Apology  for 
the  Bible,  in  anfwer  to  my  Second  Part  of  the 
A^<z  of  Reafon.  I  procured  a  copy  of  his  book, 
and  he  may  depend  upon  hearing  from  me  on  thai 
fubje6l* 

At  the  end  of  the  Bijhop's  book  is  a  liji  of  the 
Works  he  has  written,  among  which  is  the  Ser- 
mon alluded  to;  it  is  intitled. 


iv  PREFACE. 

-'  The  Wisdom  and  Goodness  of  God, 
3n  having  made  both  rich  "and  poor  i 
^itb  an  Appendix^  containing  Reflections  on 

THE    PRESENT     $TATE    QF  JEnGLAND     AND 

France.'* 

The  error  canfah^ed  in  the  title  of  this  Ser^ 
pion^  determined  me  to  publifo  my  Agrarian  Juf^ 
tice.  //  is  wrong  to  fay  that  God  made  Rich  and 
Poor;  he  made  only  Male  and  Female;  and  he 
gave  them  the  earth  for  their  inheritance,      * 

^  ^  T?  *  ^ 

y?^  vP  ^  vP  -JP 

tF  ^  ^  w  tI* 

*  #  *  -  *  * 

«  #  »  «         I  f: 

Inflead  of  preaching  to  encourage  one  part  of 

mankind  in  infolence      *  #  # 

#  *  *  *  * 

#  #  ^  #  # 

*  *  *  *  it  would 
he  better  that  Prlcfls  employed  their  time  to  ren- 
der the  general  condition  of  man  lefs  miferahle  than 
it  is,  P radical  religion  confifts  in  doing  good;  and 
the  only  way  of  ferving  God  is^  that  of  etidea- 
njouring  to  make  his  creation  happy.  All  preach- 
ing that  has  not  this  for  its  obje^^  is  nonfenfe  and 
hpocrify, 

THOMAS  PAINE, 


4 


AGRARIAN    JUSTICE, 

OPPOSED      TO 

AGRARIAN     LAW, 
4ND  TO  AGRARIAN  MONOPOLT. 

BEING    A    PLAN    FOR 

Meliorating  the  Condition  of  Man,   <yc* 


T 


O    preferve    the    l>enefits  of   what  is 

called  civilized  life,  and  to  remedy,  at  the 
fame  time,  the  evil  it  has  produced,  ought 
to  be  confidered  as  one  of  the  firft  objects  of 
reformed  legillation. 

Whether  that  ftate  that  is  proudly,  perhaps 
crroneoufly,  called  civilization,  has  moft  pro- 
moted or  mod  injured  the  general  happinefs 
of  man,  is  a  queftion  that  may  be  ftrongly 
contefted. — On  one  fide,  the  fpedator  is  daz- 
zled by  fplendid  appearances ;  on  the  other, 
he  is  ihocked  by  extremes  of  v/retchcdnefs  -, 


% 


it 


(     6     ) 

both  of  which  he  has  erefted.    The  mofl  af- 
' fluent  and  the  mod  miferable  of  the  human 
race  are  to  be  found  in  the  countries  that  are 
called  civilized. 

To  underftand  what  the  flate  of  fociety 
ought  to  be,  it  is  neceflary  to  have  fome  idea 
of  the  natural  and  primitive  (late  of  man  ;  fuch 
as  it  is  at  this  day  among  the  Indians  of  North 
America.  There  is  not,  in  that  flate,  any  of 
thofe  fpe^tacles  of  human  mifery  which  po- 
verty and  v/ant  prefent  to  our  eyes,  in  all  the 
towns  and  flreets  of  Europe.  Poverty,  there- 
fore, is  a  thing  created  by  that  which  is  called 
civilized  life.  It  exiils  not  in  the  natural  ftate. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  natural  flate  is  with- 
out thefe  advantages  which  flow  fromAgricul- 
ture.  Arts,  Science,  and  Manufactures. 

The  life  of  an  Indian  is  a  continual  holiday, 
'compared  with  the  poor  of  Europe ;  and,  on 
the  other  band,  it  appears  to  be  abjed  when 
compared  to  the  rich.  Civilization,  therefore, 
or  that  which  is  fo  called,  has  operated,  two 
ways,  to  make  one  part  of  fociety  more  afflu- 
ent, and  the  other  part  more  wretched,  than 
would  have  been  the  lot  of  either  in  a  natural 
flate. 

It  is  always  poiiible  to  go  from  the  natural  to 
the  civilized  flate,  but  it  is  never  pofTible  to  go 
from  the  civilized  to  the  natural  flate.   The 


(    7    ) 

reafon  is,  that  man,  in  a  natural  ftate,  fubfifling 
by  hunting,  requires  ten  times  the  quantity  of 
land  to  range  over,  to  procure  himfelf  fufte- 
nance,  than  would  fupport  him  in  a  civilized 
ftate,  where  the  earth  is  cultivated.  Whea 
therefore  a  country  becomes  populous  by  the 
additional  aids  of  cultivation,  arts,  and  fcience, 
there  is  a  neceflity  of  preferving  things  in  that 
flate;  becaufe  without  it,  there  cannot  be  fuf- 
tenance  for  more,  perhaps,  than  a  tenth  part 
of  its  inhabitants.  The  thing  therefore  now  to 
be  done,  is,  to  remedy  the  evils,  and  preferve 
the  benefits,  that  have  arifen  to  fociety,  by 
paffing  from  the  natural  to  that  which  is  called 
the  civilized  flate.  \ 

Taking  then  the  matter  up  on  this  ground, 
the  firft  principle  of  civilization  ought  to  have 
been,  and  ought  ftill  to  be,  that  the  condition 
of  every  perfon  born  into  the  world,  after  a 
ftate  of  civilization  commences,  ought  not  to 
be  v/orfe  than  if  he  had  been  born  before  that 
period.  But  the  fad  is,  that  the  condition  of 
millions,  in  every  country  in  Europe,  is  far 
worfe  than  if  they  had  been  born  before  ci- 
vilization began,  or  had  been  born  among  the 
Indians  of  North  America  of  the  prefent  day. 
I  will  fhew  how  this  fa6l  has  happened. 

It  is  a  pofition  not  to  be  controverted,  that 
the  earth,  in  its  natural  uncultivated  ftate,  was, 
and  ever  would  have  continued  to  be,  the 

COMMON  PROPERTY    OF  THE  HUMAN  RACE. 


(     8     ) 

In  that  ftate  every  man  would  have  been  hiytn 
to  property.  He  would  have  been  a  joint  life- 
proprietor  with  the  reft  in  the  property  of  the 
foil,  and  in  all  its  natural  produdions,  vege^ 
table  and  animal. 

But  the  earth,  in  its  natural  ftate,  as  before 
faid,  is  capable  of  fupporting  but  a  fmall  num- 
ber of  inhabitants  compared  with  what  it  is 
capable  of  doing  in  a  cultivated  ftate.  And  as 
it  is  impoffible  to  feparate  the  improvement 
made  by  cultivation,  from  the  earth  itfelf,  up- 
on which  that  improvement  is  made,  the  idea 
of  landed  property  arofe  from  that  infeparable 
connection;  but  it  is  neverthelefs  true,  that  it 
is  the  value  of  the  improvement  only,  and  not 
the  earth  itfelf,  that  is  individual  property.  Eve-* 
ry  proprietor  therefore  of  cultivated  land,  owes 
to  the  community  a  ground-rent ;  for  I  know 
no  better  term  to  exprefs  the  idea  by,  for  the 
land  which  he  holds:  and  it  is  from  this  ground 
rent  that  the  fund  propofed  in  this  plan  is  to 
iifue. 

It  is  deducible,  as  well  from  the  nature  of 
the  thing,  as  from  all  the  hiftories  tranfmitted 
to  us,  that  the  idea  of  landed  property  com- 
menced with  cultivation,  and  that  there  was 
no  fuch  thing  as  landed  property  before  that 
time.  It  could  not  exift  in  the  firft  ftate  of 
man,  that  of  hunters.  It  did  not  exift  in  the 
fecond  ftate,  that  of  Ihepherds :  Neither  Abra- 
ham^Ifaac,  Jacob,  nor  Job,  fo  far  as  thehiftory 


(     9     ) 

of  the  Bible  may  be  credited  in  probable 
things,  were  owners  of  land.  Their  property . 
confifted,  as  is  always  enumerated,  in  flocks 
and  herds,  and  they  travelled  with  them  from 
place  to  place.  The  frequent  contentions,  at 
that  time,  about  the  ufe  oj  a  well  in  the  dry 
country  of  Arabia,  where  thofe  people  lived, 
fhew  alfo  there  was  no  landed  property.  It  was 
not  admitted  that  land  could  be  located  as 
property. 

There  could  be  no  fuch  thing  as  landed 
property  originally.  Man  did  not  make  the 
earth,  and,  though  he  had  a  natural  right  to 
occupy  it,  he  had  no  right  to  locate  as  his  fro- 
perty  in  perpetuity  any  part  of  it :  neither  did 
the  Creator  of  the  earth  open  a  land-office, 
from  whence  the  firft  title-deeds  iiiould  iflue^ 
From  whence  then  arofe  the  idea  of  landed 
property  ?  I  anfwer  as  before,  that  when  cul- 
tivation began,  the  idea  of  landed  property  be-^ 
gan  with  it,  from  the  impoffibiHty  of  Separating 
the  improvement  made  by  cultivation  from 
the  earth  itfelf,  upon  which  that  improvement 
was  madcr  The  value  of  the  improvement  fo 
far  exceeded  the  value  of  the  natural  earth, 
at  that  time,  as  to  abforb  it ;  till,  in  the  end, 
the  common  right  of  all  became  confounded 
into  the  cultivated  right  of  the  individual. 
But  they  are,  neverthelefs,  diflincl  fpecies  of 
rights,  and  will  continue  to  be  fo  as  long  as 
the  earth  endures. 


B 


C     lo      ) 

It  is  .only  by  tracing  things  to  their  origin 
that  we  can  gain  rightful  ideas  of  them,  and  it 
is  by  gaining  fuch  ideas  that  we  difcover  the 
boundary  that  divides  right  from  wrong,  and 
which  teaches  every  man  to  knov/  his  own.  I 
have  intitled  this  tra<R:  Agrariaii  'Jufcke^  to 
diil'inguifh  it  from  Agrarian  Law.  Nothing 
could  be  more  unjufl:  than  Agrarian  Law  in  a 
country  improved  by  cultivation  ;  for  though 
every  man,  as  an  inhabitant  of  the  earth,  is  a 
joint  proprietor  of  it  in  its  natural  (late,  it 
does  not  follow  that  he  is  a  joint  proprietor 
cf  cultivated  earth.  The  additional  value  made 
by  cultivation,  after  the  fyftem  v/as  admitted, 
became  the  property  of  thofe  who  did  it,  or 
who  inherited  it  from  them,  or  who  purchafed 
it.  It  had  originally  an  owner.  Whilft,  there- 
fore, I  advocate  the  right,  andintereft  myfelf 
in  the  hard  cafe  of  all  thofe  who  have  been 
thrown  out  of  their  natural  inheritance  by  the 
introduction  of  the  fyftem  of  landed  property, 
I  equally  defend  the  right  of  the  poiTeflbr  to 
the  part  which  is  his. 

Cultivation  is,  at  leaft,  one  of  the  greatefh 
natural  improvements  ever  made  by  human 
invention.  It  has  given  to  created  earth  a  ten- 
fold value.  But  the  landed  monopoly,  that  be- 
gan with  it,  has  produced  the  greateft  evil.  It 
has  difpoflefled  more  than  ha'lf  the  inhabitants 
of  every  nation  of  their  natural  inheritance, 
without  providing  for  them,  as  ought  to  have 
been  done,  as  an  indemnification  for  that  lofsj 


(  "  ) 

and  has  thereby  created   a  fpecies  of  poverty 
and-  wrechednefs  that  did  not  exh1:  before. 

In  advocatmg  the  cafe  of  the  perfons  thus 
dilpoileired,  it  is  a  right  and  not  a  charity  that 
I  am  pleading  for.  But  it  is  that  kind  of  right, 
which,  being  negle^ied  at  firil,  could  not  be 
broujiht  forward  afterwards,  till  heaven  had 
Opened  the  way  by  a  revolution  in  the  fyiiiem 
of  government.  Let  us  then  do  honour  to  re- 
volutions by  judice,  and  give  currency  to  their 
principles  by  bleilings. 

Having  thus,  in  a  few  words,  opened  the 
merits  of  the  cafe,  I  proceed  to  the  plan  1  have 
to  propofe,  which  is. 

To  create  a  National  Fund,  out  of  which  there 
Jhall  be  paid  to  every  perfon,  ivhen  arrived  at 
the  age  of  tiuenty-one  years,  the  fum  c/' Fifteen 
Pounds  ilerling,  as  a  compenfaticn  in  part,  for 
the  lofs  of  his  or  her  natural  inheritance,  by  the 
mtrodu6lion  of  the  fyflem  of  landed  property, 

AND    ALSO, 

ne fum  ofl^&n  Pounds  per  annum,  during 
life,  to  every  perfon  now  living,  of  the  age  offfty 
years,  and  to  all  others  as  they  flmll  arrive  at 
that  age. 


(  I^  ) 

MEANSBYWHICHTHEFUNDIS  TO  BE  CREATED. 

I  have  already  eftablifhed  the  principle, 
namely,  that  the  earth,  in  its  natural  unculti- 
vated ftate,  was,  and  ever  would  have  contL 
nued  to  be,  the  common  property  of  the 
HUMAN  RACE — that  in  that  flate,  every  per- 
fon  would  have  been  born  to  property — and 
that  the  fyllem  of  landed  property,  by  its  in- 
feparable  connection  with  cultivation,  and 
with  what  is  called  civilized  life,  has  obfor- 
bed  the  property  of  all  thofe  whom  it  difpof- 
felled,  without  providing,  as  ought  to  have 
been  done,  an  indemnification  for  that  lofs. 

The  fault,  however,  is  not  in  the  prefent 
poffeflbrs.  No  complaint  is  intended,  or  ought 
to  be  alleged  againfl  them,  unlefs  they  adopt 
the  crime  by  oppofmg  juftice.  The  fault  is  in 
the  fyflem,  and  it  has  ftolen  imperceptibly  up- 
on the  world,  aided  afterwards  by  the  Agra- 
rian law  of  the  fword.  But  the  fault  can  be 
made  to  reform  itfelf  by  fucceffive  generations, 
without  diminifliing  or  deranging  the  proper- 
ty of  any  of  the  prefent  poflelibrs,  and  yet  the 
operation  of  the  fund  can  commence,  and  be 
in  full  aftivity,  the  firft  year  of  its  ellablilh- 
pient^  or  foon  after,  ^s  I  fhall  fhew. 

It  is  propofed  that  the  payments,  as  already 
dated,  be  made  to  every  perfon,  rich  or  poor. 
It  is  bell  to  make  it  fo,  to  prevent  invidious 
diftinQions.  It  is  alfo  right  it  fhould  be  fo,  be- 
C^ufe  it  is  in  lieu  of  the  natural  inheritance^ 


(     13     ) 

which,  as  a  right,  belongs  to  every  man,  over 
and  above  the  property  he  may  have  created 
or  inherited  from  thofe  who  did.  Such  per- 
fons  as  do  not  choofe  to  receive  it,  can  throw 
it  into  the  common  fund. 

Taking  it  then  for  granted,  that  no  perfon 
ought  to  be  in  a  worfe  condition  when  born 
under  what  is  called  a  ftate  of  civilization,  than 
he  would  have  been,  had  he  been  born  in  a 
ftate  of  nature,  and  that  civilization  ought  to 
have  made,  and  ought  (till  to  make,  provifion 
for  that  purpofe,  it  can  only  be  done  by  fub- 
trading  from  property,  a  portion  equal  in  va- 
lue to  the  natural  inheritance  it  has  abfor- 
bed. 

Various  methods  may  be  propofed  for  this 
purpofe,  but  that  which  appears  to  be  the  beft, 
not  only  becaufe  it  will  operate  without  de- 
ranging any  prefent  pofTeffors,  or  without  in- 
terfering with  the  collection  of  taxes,  or  em- 
prunts  neceflary  for  the  purpofe  of  govern* 
ment  and  the  revolution,   but  becaufe  it  will 
be  the  lead  troublefome  and  the  mod  effec- 
tual, and  alfo  becaufe  the  fubtraclion  will  be 
made  at  a  time  that  bell  admits  it,  which  is, 
at  the  moment  that  property  is  palling  by  the 
death  of  one  perfon  to  the  poffeflion  of  ano- 
ther. In  this  cafe,  thebequether  gives  nothing; 
the  receiver  pays  nothing.  The  only  matter  to 
him  is,  that  the  monopoly  of  natural  inheri- 
tance, to  which  there  never  was  a  right,  be* 


■(    u    ) 

gins  to  ceafe  in  his  perfon.  A  generous  man 
would  not  wifli  it  to  continue,  and  a  juil  man 
will  rejoice  to  fee  it  aboliflied. 

My  (late  of  health  prevents  my  making  fuf- 
ficient  enquiries  with  refpect  to  the  dodrine 
of  probabihties,  whereon  to  found  calcula- 
tions with  fuch  degrees  of  certainty  as  they  are 
capable  of.  What,  therefore,  I  offer  on  this 
head  is  more  the  refult  of  obfervation  and  re- 
iie6lion,  than  of  received  information  ;  but  I 
believe  it  will  be  found  to  agree  fufficiently 
enough  with  fad:. 

In  the  firfi:  place,  taking  twenty-one  years 
as  the  epoch  of  maturity,  all  the  property  of 
a  nation,  real  and  perfonal,  is  ahvays  in  the 
poiTeffion  of  perfons  above  that  age.  It  is  then 
ReceiTary  to  knov/  as  a  datum  of  calculation, 
the  average  of  years  which  perfons  above  that 
age  will  live.  I  take  this  average  to  be  about 
thirty  years,  for  though  many  perfons  will 
live  forty,  fifty,  or  fixty  years  afier  the  age 
of  twenty-one  years,  others  will  die  much  foon- 
er,  and  fome  in  every  year  of  that  time. 

Taldng  then  thirty  years  as  the  average  of 
time,  it  will  give,  without  any  material  vari- 
ation, one  way  or  other,  the  average  of  time 
in  which  the  whole  property  or  capital  of  a 
nation,  or  a  fum  equal  thereto,  will  have  pafT- 
ed  through  one  entire  revolution  in  defcent, 
that  is,  will  have  gone  by  deaths  to  new  pof- 


(     '5     ). 

fefTors;  for  though,  In  many  iniliances,  fome 
'parts  of  this  capital  will  remain  forty,  fifty,  or 
fixtyyears  in  the  pofleilionof  one  perfon, other 
parts  will  have  revolved  two  or  three  times  be- 
fore that  thirty  years  expire,  which  will  bring- 
it  to  that  average;  for  were  one  half  the  ca- 
pital of  a  nation  to  revolve  twice  in  thirty 
years,  it  would  produce  the  fame  fund  as  if 
the  whole  revolved  once. 

Taking,  then,  thirty  years  as  the  average  of 
time  in  v/hich  the  w^hole  capital  of  a  nation, 
or  a  fum  equal  thereto,  will  revolve  once,  the 
thirtieth  part  thereof  will  be  the  fum  that 
will  revolve  every  year,  that  is,  will  go  by 
deaths  to  new  pofleflbrs;  and  this  laft  fum  be- 
in?"  thus  known,  and  the  ratio  per  cent,  to  be 
fubtraded  from  it  being  determined,  will  give 
the  annual  amount  or  income  of  the  propofed 
fund,  to  be  applied  as  already  mentioned. 

In  looking  over  the  difcourfe  of  the  Engllfh 
miniiler,  Pitt,  in  his  opening  of  w^hat  is  called 
in  England,  the  budget,  (the  fcheme  of  fi- 
nance for  the  year  1796,)  I  find  an  eflimate 
of  the  national  capital  of  that  country.  As  this 
eftimate  of  a  national  capital  is  prepared  rea- 
dy to  my  hand,  I  take  it  as  a  datum  to  acl  up- 
on. When  a  calculation  is  made  upon  the 
known  capital  of  any  n-tion,  combined  with 
its  population,  it  will  fe  ve  as  a  fcale  for  any 
other  nation,  in  proportion  as  its  capital  and 
population  be  more  or  lefs.  I  am  the  more  dif- 


(     i6    ) 

pofed  to  take  this  eftimate  of  Mr.  Pitt,  for  the 
purpofe  of  fhewmg  to  that  mmifler,  upon  his 
own  calculation,  how  much  better  m®ney  may 
be  employed,  than  in  wafting  it,  as  he  has 
done,  on  the  wild  project  of  letting  up  Bour- 
bon kings.  What,  in  the  name  of  Heaven, 
are  Bourbon  kings  to  the  people  of  England  ? 
It  is  better  that  the  people  have  bread. 

Mr.  Pitt  ftates  the  national  capital  of  Eng- 
land, real  and  perfonal,  to  be  one  thoufand 
three  hundred  millions  (lerhng,  which  is  about 
one-fourth  part  of  the  national  capital  of 
France,  including  Belgia.  The  event  of  the 
laft  harveft  in  each  country  proves  that  the 
foil  of  France  is  more  productive  than  that  of 
England,  and  that  it  can  better  fupport  twen- 
ty-four or  twenty-five  millions  of  inhabitants 
than  that  of  England  can  feven,  or  feven  and 
an  half. 

The3oth  part  of  thiscapital of  ^Ti, 300,000,000 

^s  ^-4353335333'  "^^^^^  is  the  part  that  ^ill 
revolve  every  year  by  deaths  in  that  country 
to  new  polfeiTors;  and  the  fum  that  will  an- 
nually revolve  in  France  in  the  proportion  of 
four  to  one,  will  be  about  one  hundred  and 
feventy-three  millions  fterling.  From  this  fum 
of  ^.43^3335333  annually  revolving,  is  to  be 
fubtracted  the  value  of  the  natural  inheritance 
abforbed  in  it,  which  perhaps,  in  fair  juftice, 
cannot  be  taken  at  lefs,  and  ought  not  to  be 
taken  for  more,  than  a  tenth  part. 


(     '7    ) 

It  will  always  happen,  that  of  the  property 
thus  revolving  by  deaths  every  year,  part  will 
defcend  in  a  dire£l  line  to  fons  and  daugh- 
ters, and  the  other  part  collaterally,  and  the 
proportion  will  be  found  to  be  about  three 
to  one ;  that  is,  about  thirty  millions  of  the 
above  fum  will  defcend  to  dire^l  heirs,  and 
the  remaining  fum  of  ^'^^-j^SS^f-tS^^  to  more 
diftant  relations,  and  part  to  llrangers. 

Confidering  then  that  man  is  always  related 
to  fociety,  that  relationfhip  will  become  com- 
paratively greater  in  proportion  as  the  next 
of  kin  is  more  diftant  :  It  is  therefore  con- 
iiflent  with  civilization  to  fay,  that  where  there 
are  no  dired  heirs,  fociety  (hall  be  heir  to  a 
part  over  and  above  the  tenth  part  due  to  fo- 
cietyi  If  this  additional  part  be  from  five  to 
ten  or  twelve  per  cent*  in  proportion  as  the 
next  of  kin  be  nearer  or  more  remote,  fo  as 
to  average  with  the  efcheats  that  may  fall, 
which  ought  always  to  go  to  fociety  and  not 
to  the  government,  an  addition  of  ten  per 
cent,  more,  the  produce  from  the  annual  fum 
of  jC'43^333^333  will  be, 


From  305000,000  at  ten  per  cent.      .       3,000,000 
From   i3>333}333  at  ten  pr.  ct.  with  the 

addition  of  ten  per  J-  2^666^666 
cent,  more 


with  the "} 
ten  per  > 

•      •      •      •  1 


;C-43j333>333 •  —  £.$^666,666 


(     18     > 

Having  thus  arrived  at  the  annual  amount 
of  the  propofed  fund,  I  come,  in  the  next 
place,  to  fpeak  of  the  population  proportioned 
to  this  fund,  and  to  compare  it  with  ufes  to 
which  the  fund  is  to  be  applied. 

The  population  (I  mean  that  of  England) 
does  not  exceed  feven  millions  and  a  half,  and 
the  number  of  perfons  above  the  age  of  fifty 
will  in  that  cafe  be  about  four  hundred  thou- 
fand'.  There  would  not  however  be  more 
than  that  number  that  would  accept  the  pro- 
pofed  ten  pounds  ilerling, per  annum,  though 
they  would  be  entitled  to  it.  I  have  no  idea 
it  would  be  accepted  by  many  perfons  v/ho  had 
a  yearly  income  of  two  or  three  hundred 
pounds  fterling.  But  as  we  often  fee  inflan^ 
ces.  pf  rich  people  falling  into  fudden  pover- 
ty, .even  at.  the  age  of  fixty,  they  would  al- 
ways h'lve  the  right  of  drawing  all  the  arrears 
due  to  them. — ^Four  millions,  therefore,  of 
the  above  annual  fum  of  ^{'.5, 666, 666,  will  be 
required  for  four  hundred  thoufand  aged  per- 
fons^ at  ten  pounds  flerhng  each, 

I  come  now  to  fpeak  of  the  perfons  annu- 
ally arriving  at  twenty- one  years  of  age.  If 
all  the  perfons  who  died  were  above  the  age 
of  twen^/-one  years,  the  number  of  perfons 
annually  arriving  at  that  age,  mufl  be  equal 
to"  the  annual  number  of  deaths  to  keep  the 
population  flationary.  But  the  greater  part 
die  under  the  age  of  twenty-one,  and  there- 


C     '9     ) 

fore  the  number  of  perfons  annually  arriving 
at  twenty- one,  will  be  lefs  than  half  the  num- 
of  deaths.  The  whole  number  of  deaths  up- 
on a  population  of  feven  millions  and  a  half, 
will  be  about  220,000  annually.  The  number 
arriving  at  twenty-one  years  of  age  will  be 
about  100,000.  The  whole  number  of  thefe 
will  not  receive  the  propofed  fifteen  pounds,  for 
the  reafons  already  mentioned,  though,  as  in 
the  former  cafe,  they  would  be  entitled  to  it. 
Admitting  then  that  a  tenth  part  declined  re- 
ceiving it,  the  amount  would  (land  thus  : 

Fund  annually £.^^666^666 

To  400,000  aged  per- 
fons at  ;;r.  I  o  each  ^T. 4,000,000 
To  9  0,000  per  Tons  of 
21  years,  i5/.fter.ea.  1,350,000 

5^3505000 

remains     jC';^i6,666 

There  are  in  every  country  ^  number  of  blind 
and  lame  perfons,  totally  incapable  of  earning 
a  livehhood.  But  as  it  will  always  happen  that 
the  greater  number  of  blind  perfons  will  be 
among  thofe  who  are  above  the  age  of  fifty 
years,  they  will  be  provided  for  in  that  clafs. 
The  remaining  fum  of  ;r. 316, 666,  will  pro- 
vide for  the  lame  and  blind  under  that  age,  at 
the  fame  rate  of  ;,r.  10  annually  for  each  per- 
fbn.  ;   :   ;    :  i 


(      20      ) 

Having  now  gone  through  all  the  neceflary 
calculations,  and  ilated  the  particulars  of  the 
plan,  I  fhall  conclude  with  fome  obfervations. 

It  IS  not  charity  but  a  right — not  bounty 
but  juftice,  that  I  am  pleading  for.    The  pre- 
fent  {late  of  what  is  called  civilization,  is     * 
*     *     *     It  is  the  reverfe  of  what  it  ought 
to  be,  and      *     #     #     #     *      xhe  contrafl 
of  affluence  and  wretchednefs  continually  meet-* 
ing  and  offending  the  eye,  is  like  dead  and  liv- 
ing bodies  chained  together.    Though  I  care 
as  little  about  riches  as  any  man,  I  am  a  friend 
to  riches   becaufe  they  are  capable  of  good. 
I  care  not  how  affluent  fome  may  be,  provided 
that  none  be  miferable  in  confequence  of  it» 
But  it  is  impoffible  to  enjoy  affluence  with  the 
felicity  it  is  capable  of  being  enjoyed,  whilfl 
fo  much  mifery  is  mingled  in  the  fcene.    The 
fight  of  the  mifery,  and  the  unpleafant  fenfa^ 
tions  it  fuggefts,  which,  though  they  may  be 
fuffocated,  cannot  be  extinguilhed,  are  a  great- 
er draw-back  upon  the  fehcity  of  affluence  than 
the   propofed   lo  per  cent,  upon  property  is 
worth.    He  that  would  not  give  the  one  to  get 
rid  of  the  other,  has  no  charity,  even  for  him^ 
felf. 

There  are,  in  every  country,  fome  magnifi- 
cent charities  eftablifhed  by  individuals.  It  is, 
however,  but  little  that  any  individual  can  do, 
when  the  whole  extent  of  the  mifery  to  be  relieved 
be  confidered.  He  may  fatisfy  his  confcience, 


(      21       ) 

but  not  his  heart.  He  may  give  all  that  he  has, 
and  that  all  will  relieve  but  little.  It  is  only 
by  organizing  civilization  upon  fuch  principles 
as  to  ad:  like  a  fyftem  of  pullies,  that  the  whole 
weight  of  mifery  can  be  removed. 

The  plan  here  propofed  will  reach  the 
whole.  It  will  immediately  relieve  and  take 
out  of  view  three  claifes  of  wretchednefs.  The 
blind,  the  lame,  and  the  aged  poor ;  and  it 
will  furnifli  the  rifmg  generation  with  means 
to  prevent  their  becoming  poor  ;  and  it  will 
do  this,  without  deranging  or  interfering  with 
any  national  mcafures.  To  fhew  that  this  will 
be  the  cafe,  it  is  fumcient  to  obferve,  that  the 
operation  and  effedl  of  the  plan  will,  in  all 
cafes,  be  the  fame,  as  if  every  individual  were 
voluntarily  to  make  his  will,  and  difpofe  of  his 
property,  in  the  manner  here  propofed. 

But  it  is  juftice  and  not  charity,  that  is  the 
principle  of  the  plan.  In  all  great  cafes  it  is  ne- 
celTary  to  have  a  principle  more  univerfally  ac- 
tive than  charity  ;  and  with  refpecl  to  juttice, 
it  ought  not  to  be  left  to  the  choice  of  detach- 
ed individuals,  whether  they  will  do  juifice  or 
not.  Confidering  then  the  plan  on  the  ground 
of  juflice,  it  ought  to  be  the  acl  of  the  whole, 
growing  fpontaneoufly  out  of  the  principles  of 
the  revolution,  and  the  reputation  of  it  to  be 
national  and  not  individual. 

A  plan  upon  this  principle  w-ould  benefit 


(      22      ) 

the  revolution,  by  the  energy  that  fprings  from 
the  conrcioufnefs  of  juRice.  It  would  multi- 
ply alfo  the  national  refources  ;  for  proper tyj 
like  vegetation,  encreafes  by  ofi-fets.  When  a 
young  couple  beghi  the  world,  the  difference 
is  exceedingly  great,  whether  they  begin  with 
nothing  or  wit  h  fifteen  pounds  a-piece.  With  this 
aid  thty  could  buy  a  cow,  and  implements  to 
cultivate  a  few  acres  of  land  ;  and  inUead  of 
becoming  burthens  upon  fociety,  vvdrich  is  al- 
w^ays  the  cafe,  where  children  are  produced  faf- 
ter  than  they  can  be  fed,  would  be  put  in  the 
way  of  becoming  ufeful  and  profitable  citizens. 
The  national  domains  alfo  would  fell  the  bet- 
ter, if  pecuniary  aids  were  provided  to  culti- 
vate them  in  fmall  lots. 

It  is  the  pra6lice  of  what  has  unjuftly  ob- 
tained the  name  of  civilization  (and  the  prac- 
tice merits  not  to  be  called  either  charity  or 
policy)  to  make  fome  provifion  for  perfons  be- 
coming poor  and  wretched,  only  at  the  time 
they  become  fo. — Would  it  not,  even  as  a 
matter  of  economy,  be  far  better,  to  devife 
means  to  prevent  their  becoming  poor.  This 
can  bed  be  done,  by  making  every  perfon, 
when  arrived  at  the  age  of  twenty- one  years, 
an  inheritor  of  fomething  to  begin  with.  The 
rugged  face  of  fociety,  chequered  with  the  ex- 
tremes of  aiPiuence  and  of  want,  proves  that 
fome  extraordinary  violence  has  been  commit- 
ted upon  it,  and  calls  on  juftice  for  redrefs. 
The  great  mafs  of  the  poor,  in  all  countries. 


C   23   ,) 

are  become  an  hereditary  race,  and  it  is  next 
to  irapolTible  for  them  to  get  out  of  that  (late 
of  themfelves.  It  ought  alio  to  be  obferved,that 
this  mafs  increafes  in  all  countries  that  are  cal- 
led civilized.  More  perfons  fall  annually  into 
it,  than  get  out  of  it. 

Thoug^h  in  a  plan,  in  which  juilice  and  hu- 
manity  are  the  foundation-principles,  inferefl 
outjht  not  to  be  admitted  into  the  calculauon, 
yet  it  is  always  of  advantage  to  the  edablifli- 
ment  of  any  plan,  to  fliew  that  it  is  beneficial 
as  a  matter  of  interePc.  The  fuccefs  of  any  pro- 
posed plan,  fubmitted  to  public  confideration, 
mud  finally  depend  on  the  numbers  interefted 
in  fup porting  it,  united  with  the  juflice  of  its 
principles. 

The  plan  here  propofed  will  benefit  all, 
without  injuring  any.  It  will  confolidate  the 
interefl  of  the  republic  with  that  of  the  indi- 
vidual. To  the  numerous  clafs  difpofTeffed  of 
their  natural  inheritance  by  the  fyflem  of  lan- 
ded property,  it  will  be  an  acl  of  national  juf- 
tice.  To  perfons  dying  poiTefTed  of  moderate 
fortunes,  it  will  operate  as  a  tontine  to  their 
children,  more  beneficial  than  the  fum  of 
money  paid  into  the  fund :  and  it  \vill  give 
to  the  accumulation  of  riches  a  degree  of  fe- 
curity,  that  none  of  the  old  governments  of 
Europe,  now  tottering  on  their  foundations, 
can  give..  ■' 


(      24      ) 

I  do  not  fuppofe  that  more  than  one  family 
in  ten,  in  any  of  the  countries  of  Europe,  hasj 
when  the  head  of  the  family  dies,  a  clear  pro- 
perty left  of  five  hundred  pounds  fterling.  To 
all  fuch,  the  plan  is  advantageous.  That  pro- 
perty would  pay  fifty  pounds  into  the  fund, 
and  if  there  were  only  two  children  under  age, 
they  would  receive  fifteen  pounds  each  (thirty 
pounds)  on  coming  of  age,  and  be  entitled  to 
ten  pounds  a  year  after  fifty.  It  is  from  the 
over  grown  acquifition  of  property  that  the 
fund  will  fupport  itfelf ;  and  I  know  that  the 
polfeffors  of  fuch  property  in  England,  though 
they  would  eventually  be  benefited  by  the 
protedlion  of  nine-tenths  of  it,  will  exclaim 
againfl  the  plan.  But,  without  entering  into 
any  enquiry  how  they  came  by  that  property, 
let  them  recoiled  that  they  have  been  the  ad- 
vocates of  this  war,  and  that  Mr.  Pitt  has  al- 
ready laid  on  more  new  taxes  to  be  raifed  an- 
nually upon  the  people  of  England,  and  that 
for  fupporting  the  de'potifm  of  Auftria  and 
the  Bourbons,  againll  the  liberties  of  France, 
than  would  annually  pay  all  the  fuins  propo- 
fed  in  this  plan. 

I  have  made  the  calculations,  flated  in  this 
plan,  upon  what  is  called  perfonal,  as  well  as 
upon  landed  property.  The  reafon  for  mak- 
ing it  upon  land  is  already  explained  ;  and  the 
reafon  for  taking  perfonal  property  into  the  cal- 
culation, is  equally  well  founded,  though  on 
SI  different  princijple.  Land,  as  before  faid,  is 


C    25    ) 

the  free  gift  cf  the  Creator  in  common  to  the 
human  race.  Perfonal  property  is  the  effed  of 
Society  ;  and  it  is  as  impolTible  for  an  indivi- 
dual to  acquire  perfonal  property  without  the 
aid  of  Society,  as  it  is  for  him  to  make  land 
originally.  Separate  an  individual  from  focie- 
ty,  and  give  him  an  iiland  or  a  continent  to 
poffefs,  and  he  cannot  acquire  perfonal  pro- 
perty. He  cannot  become  rich.  So  infepara- 
bly  are  the  means  connected  with  the  end,  in 
all  cafes,  that  where  the  former  do  not  exiil:, 
the  latter  cannot  be  obtained.  All  accumula- 
tion, therefore,  of  perfonal  property,  beyond 
what  a  man's  own  hands  produce,  is  derived  to 
him  by  living  in  fociety ;  and  he  owes,  on  every 
principle  of  juflice,  of  gratitude,  and  of  civili- 
zation, a  part  of  that  accumulation  back  again 
to  fociety  from  whence  the  whole  came.  This  is 
putting  the  matter  on  a  general  principle,  and 
perhaps  it  is  bed  to  do  fo  ;  for  if  we  examine 
the  cafe  minutely,  it  will  be  found,  that  the  ac- 
cumulation of  perfonal  property  is,  in  many 
inflances,  the  effed:  of  paying  too  little  for  the 
labour  that  produced  it ;  the  confequence  of 
which  is,  that  the  working  hand  perifhes  in  old 
age,  and  the  employer  abounds  in  affluence* 
It  is,  perhaps,  impoffible  to  proportion  exadly 
the  price  of  labour  to  the  profits  it  produces  ; 
and  it  will  alfo  be  faid,  as  an  apology  for  in- 
juftice,  that  were  a  workman  to  receive  an  in- 
creafe  of  wages  daily,  he  would  not  fave  it 
figainft  old  age,  nor  be  much  the  better  for  it 
in  the  interium.  Make,  then,  fociety  the  trea- 

D 


(     25     ) 

furcr,  to  guard  it  for  him  in  a  common  fund  ; 
for  it  is  no  reafon,  that  becaufe  he  might  not 
make  a  good  ufe  of  it  for  himfelf,  that  another 
ihall  take  it. 

The  flate  of  civilization  that  has  prevailed 
throughout  Europe,  is  as  unjuft  in  its  prin- 
ciple, as  it  is  horrid  in  its  efFecls;  and  it  is 
the  confcioufnefs  of  this,  and  the  apprehen- 
fion  that  fuch  a  (late  cannot  continue,  when 
once  invefligation  begins  in  any  country,  that 
makes  the  poiTeiTors  of  property  dread  every 
idea  of  a  revolution.  It  is  the  hazard  and  not 
the  principles  of  a  revolution  that  retards  their 
progrefs.  This  being  the  cafe,  it  is  neceflary 
as  well  for  the  protection  of  property,  as  for 
the  fake  of  juftice  and  humanity,  to  form  a  fyf- 
tern,  that  whiKl  it  preferves  one  part  of  fociety 
from  wretchednefs,  fhall  fecure  the  other  from 
depredation. 

The  fuperftitious  awe,  the  enflaving  rave- 
rence,  that  formerly  furrounded  affluence,  is 
paiTmg  away  in  all  countries,  and  leaving  the 
poifeilor  of  property  to  the  convulfion  of  ac- 
cidents. When  wealth  and  fplendour,  inllead 
of  fafcinating  the  multitude,  excite  emotions 
of  difgufl ;  when,  inllead  of  drawing  forth  ad- 
miration, it  is  beheld  as  an  infult  upon  wretch- 
ednefs ;  when  the  oflentatious  appearance  it 
makes,  ferves  to  call  the  right  of  it  in  quef- 
tion,  the  cafe  of  property  becomes  critical,  and 


C   47    ) 

it  is  only  in  a  fyflem  of  juflice  that  the  pof- 
feflbr  can  contemplate  lecurity. 

To  remove  the  danger,  It  is  neceflary  to  re- 
move the  antipathies,  and  this  can  only  be  done 
by  making  property  produdlive  of  a  national 
bieffing,  extending  to  every  individual.  V/hen 
the  riches  of  one  man  above  another  {hall  in- 
creafe  the  national  fund  in  the  fame  propor- 
tion ;  when  it  (hall  be  feen  that  the  profperity 
of  that  fund  depends  on  the  profperity  of  in- 
dividuals ;  when  the  more  riches  a  man  ac- 
quires, the  better  it  (hall  be  for  the  general 
mafs  ;  it  is  then  that  antipathies  will  ceafe,  and 
property  be  placed  on  the  permanent  bafis  of 
national  intereft  and  protedion. 

i  have  no  property  in  France  to  become  fub- 
jed;  to  the  plan  I  propofe.  What  I  have,  which 
is  not  much,  is  in  the  United  States  of  Ameri- 
ca. But  I  will  pay  one  hundred  pounds  fler- 
ling  towards  this  fund  in  France,  the  inllant  it 
{hall  be  eifabhfhed  ;  and  1  will  pay  the  fame 
fum  in  England,  whenever  a  fimilar  eftablifh- 
ment  {hall  take  place  in  that  country. 

x\  revolution  in  the  ilate  of  civilization,  k 
the  neceifary  companion  of  revolutions  in  the 
fyflem  of  government.  If  a  revolution  in  any 
country  be  from  bad  to  good,  or  from  good 
to  bad,  the  ftate  of  what  is  called  civilization 
in  that  country,  mud  be  made  conformable 
thereto,  to  give  that  revolution  effects.     Def- 


(     38     ) 

potic  government  fupports  itfelf  by  abjeQ:  ci- 
vilization, in  which  debafement  of  the  human 
mind,  and  wretchednefs  in  the  mafs  of  the 
people,  are  the  chief  crirerians.  Such  govern- 
ments confider  man  merely  as  an  animal ;  that 
the  exercife  of  intelledlual  faculty  is  not  his 
pri^dlege ;  that  he  has  n  thing  to  do  with  the  laws^ 
hut  to  obey  thefii;*  and  they  politically  depend 
more  upon  breaking  the  fpirit  of  the  people 
by  poverty,  than  they  fear  enraging  it  by  def- 
peration. 

It  is  a  revolution  in  the  ftate  of  civilization, 
that  will  give  perfedion  to  the  revolution  of 
France.  Already  the  convidion,  that  govern- 
ment, by  reprefentation,  is  the  true  fyftem  of 
government,  is  fpreading  itfelf  fad  in  the  world. 
The  reafonablenefs  of  it  can  be  feen  by  all. 
Thejuflnefs  of  it  makes  itfelf  felt  even  by  its 
cppofers.  But  when  a  fyftem  of  civilization, 
growing  out  of  that  fyftem  of  government, 
ihall  be  fo  organized,  that  not  a  man  or  wo- 
man born  in  the  republic,  but  ftiall  inherit 
fome  means  of  beginning  the  world,  and  fee 
before  them  the  certainty  of  efcaping  the  mi- 
feries  that  under  other  governments  accompa- 
ny old  age,  the  revolution  of  France  will  have 
an  advocate  and  an  ally  in  the  heart  of  all  na- 
tions. 


*  Expreflion  of  Horfley,  an  Englifli  Bifhop,  in  tlie 
Englifh  parliam^t. 


(      29      ) 

An  army  of  principles  will  penetrate  where 
an  army  of  foldiers  cannot — ^It  will  fucceed 
where  diplomatic  management  would  fail — 
It  is  neither  the  Rhine,  the  Channel,  nor 
the  Ocean,  that  can  arrefl  its  progrefs — It  will 
march  on  the  horizon  of  the  world,  and  it 
will  conquer. 

THOMAS    PAINE. 


(    30     ) 

Means  for  carrying  the  propofedPlan  into 
•     Execution,  and  to  render  it  at  the  fame  time 
conducive  to  the  public  Interell. 

I. 

Each  canton  jhall  eled:  in  its  primary  affenu 
hlles^  three  perfom^  as  commljjioners  for  that  can- 
ton^ who  jhall  take  cognizance^  and  keep  a  re- 
gijier  of  all  matters  happening  in  that  canton^ 
conformable  to  the  charter  that  fnall  be  eflablljhed 
by  law^  for  carrying  this  plan  into  execution. 

11. 

The  law  fhall  fix  the  manner  in  which  the 
property  of  deceafed  perfons  fhall  be  afcertained. 


III. 


When  the  amount  of  the  property  of  any  de- 
eeafed  perfdn  Jhall  be  afcertained^  the  principal 
heir  to  that  property^  or  the  cldeft  of  the  co-heirs^ 
if  of  lawful  agey  or  if  under  age^  the  perfon 
authorized  by  the  will  of  the  deceafed  to  reprefent 
him^  or  them^  fhall  give  bond  to  the  coinmijfton- 
ers  of  the  canton,  to  pay  the  faid  tenth  part 
thereof  within  the  fpace  of  one  year,  in  four 
€(iual  quarterly  payments,  or  fooner,  at  the  choice 
of  the  payers.  One-half  of  the  whole  property 
jhall  remain  asfecurity  until  the  bond  be  paid  off ^ 


(    31     ) 
IV. 

The  bond  Jh  all  be  reg[fteredin  the  office  of  the 
commljftoner s  of  the  canton^  and  the  original 
bonds  jhall  he  dopofited  in  the  yiational  hank  at 
Paris,  The  hank  ff jail  pub lijh  every  qiurter  of 
a  year  the  amount  of  the  bonds  in  itspoffejfton^  and 
alfo  the  bonds  that  fhall  have  been  paid  off^  or 
what  parts  thereof  fince  the  lajl  quarterly  pub- 
lie  at  I  on. 

V. 

The  national  hank  fJjall  ijjtie  bank  notes  upon 
the  fecurity  of  the  bonds  in  its  poffejfon,  Th€ 
notes  fo  iffiied.^  fhall  be  applied  to  pay  the  penftons 
of  agedperfons^  and  the  compenfations  to  perfons 
arriving  at  twenty-one  years  of  age* — //  is  both 
reafonahle  and  generous  to  fiippofe,  that  perfons 
not  under  immediate  neceffity^  will  fifpend  their 
right  of  drawing  on  the  fund^  until  it  acquire^ 
as  it  will  do^  a  greater  degree  of  ability.  In  this 
cafe^  it  is  propofed^  that  an  honorary  regifter  be 
kept  in  each  canton^  of  the  names  of  the  perfons 
thus  fufpendi^ig  that  rights  at  leafi  during  the 
prefent  zvar, 

VI. 

As  the  inheritors  of  property  miifi  always  take 
up  their  bonds  in  four  quarterly  payments  ^  orfoon- 
er  if  they  choofe^  there  will  always  be  numeraire 
arriving  at  the  bank  after  the  expiration  of  the 
frfl  quarter  J  to  exchange  for  the  bank  notes  thai 
fhall  be  brought  in* 


(    32     ) 
VII. 

The  hank  notes  being  thus  got  into  circulation^ 
upon  the  heji  of  all  pojjible  fecurity^  that  of  adual 
property^  to  more  than  four  times  the  amount  of  the 
bonds  upon  which  the  notes  are  iffued^  and  with 
numeraire  continually  arriving  at  the  hank  to  ex* 
change  or  pay  them  off  whenever  they  fhall  be 
prefented  for  that  purpofe^  they  will  acqidre  a 
permanent  value  in  all  parts  of  the  republic, 
They  can  therefore  be  received  in  payment  of  taxes 
or  emprunts^  equal  to  numeraire^  hecaufe  the  go-' 
vernment  can  always  receive  numeraire  for  them 
at  the  bank, 

VIII. 

It  will  he  neceffary  that  the  payments  of  the  ten 
per  cent,  he  made  in  numeraire  for  the  firji 
year^fro7n  the  efiablifhment  of  the  plan.  But  af* 
ter  the  expiration  ofthefirfi  year^  the  inheritors 
of  property  7nay  pay  the  ten  per  cent,  either  in 
bank  notes  iffued  upon  thefund^  or  in  nuw.eraire. 
If  the  payments  be  in  numeraire^  it  will  lie  as  a 
depofit  at  the  bank^  to  be  exchanged  for  a  quan- 
tity of  notes  equal  to  that  amount ;  and  if  in  notes 
iffued  upon  the  fund ^  it  will  caufe  a  demand  upon 
the  fund  equal  thereto  ;  and  thus  the  operation 
of  the  plan  will  create  means  to  carry  itfelf  into 
execution, 

F    I    N    I    s; 


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